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HISTORY

COUNTIES

BERKS AND LEBANON:

CONTAINING A BRIEF ACC0UNT OF THE INDIANS

Who inhabited this region of country, and the numerous Murders by

them ; notices of the first Swedish, Welsh, French, German, Irish,

and English settlers, giving the names of nearly five thousand

of them. Biographical Sketches, topographical descriptions •

of every Township), and of the Principal Toisrns

and Villages ; the Bellgious History; -with

inuoh useful Statistical information ;

notices of the Pros3'& Education.

EMBELLISHED BY SEVERAL APPROPRIATE ENGRAVINGS.

CCaPILKT) FROM AUTnT-XTIC 90UnCE3

Author OF Hs Pasa Ezklssia., sto., arc

PUBLISHED AND SOLD,
BY G. HILLS, PROPRIETOR ;

LAXCASTElt, PA.

1844.

I

Eatered, accordiag to an act of Congress, in the year 1S43,

BY GILBERT HILLS, PROPRIETOR, LANCASTER,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of

Pennsylvania.

lOHN H. PEARSOL, PRINTER, LANCASTER, PA,

i^l

PREFACE.

The writer made no attempt in this ccmpilation, as can te
done in regular history, in which causes and effects are minute-
ly given, to preserve a consecutive chronological arrangeirent
of facts; it was not his design to do so; he simply aimed at tmi-
bodying in a convenient foim, notices of the leading incidents
that occurred in Berks and Lebanon, ficm their earliest settle-
ments; and with that view, preserved, as far as piacticatie,
original documents, letters, extracts, etc., krxwirg that ll.ete
are always read v.ith m.uch interest by the gieat majoiity.

The design of this woik is to preserve the mcst inteiestirg
local facts relating to the Indians Mho inhabited this region of
country, the numerous sanguinary massacres ccmmitted by
them: to give brief historical sketches of the first Swedish,
Welsh, French, German, Irish, and English settlers, and as far
as practicable, to preserve the names cf these who resided a
century ago, within the limits of these counties, and to ccca-
sionally intersperse biographical sketches of scm^e of the pio-
neers or their immediate descendants, of ministers of the gospel,
so far as they had been connected with the church in these
counties, &c. How far this has been done, is left to the can-
did reader to say. Nothing has been \^{i undone on the part
of the compiler, to collect facts from authentic sources and ar-
range them according to the best of his judgment.

To compile a work like this, is attended with difficulties that
none know of, except those whom experience has taught. A
remark oorroborative of this may be found in the preface to
" The Description of the Borough of Reading," by Major Wil-

IV PRl!;FACE.

liam Stable. The author says: — "That the execution of his
design was not free from difficulty, may be inferred from the
fact that it was undertaken many months ago, and has been
prosecuted with unremitted diligence to the present moment.
The difficulties attending a work of this description far exceed
those of ordinary authorship. It is easy to write an essay, or
a plausible argument, on almost any subject, but difficult to as-
certain facts. It is pleasant to sit at one's ease and write out
a tale of fictitious love or wee; not so, to scour the streets,
noting the material, and measuring the height of houses, and
inquiring into the business of their inmates. It was the gather-
ing of the materiel for the book that gave me the most trouble,
and it is in the fidelity with which this task has been perfoimed,
that its principal merit consists."

In a compilation of this kind, made up of letters, &.C., with
original remarks occasionally, a diversity of style cannot be
avoided; especially where the very words of authors quoted, and
contributors, are preserved. Where the sentiment, or a mere
lact of an author is embodied in these pages, the usual marks of
credit are given.

The acknowledgments of the compiler are due the followin!-;
gentlemen, for facts furnished by them:

Messrs. H. K. Strong, State Librarian; Charles M'Ckire,
Secretary of the Commonwealth; Charles Kessler, John S.
Richards, T. P. Jones, Joel Ritter, John E. Longnecker, Wil-
liam Rank, Jacob Weidle, Jacob Beam, Charles Troxel, Abra-
ham De Tirk, Thomas E. Lee, Joseph Light, Adam Uirich,
Doctors Leineweaver, Isaac Hiester, C. H. Hunter, the Hons.
John Ritter, H. A. Muhlenberg, the Revd's Miller, Bucher,
Pauli, Herman, Uirich, Leinbach, Ernst, Wagner, Rothrauff.
To those gentlemen who received the writer, while collecting
materials, so hospitably, he would thus publicly return his
thanks for their kindness.

Lancaster, Pa., July 12, 1844.

CONTENTS

OF THE HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY.

CHAPTEH.
I.

Introduction, . . . .

PACK.

13

II.

The Indians, . . . .

16

III.

Murders committed by the Indians,

33

IV.

The Swedes,

80

V.

French Protestants, or Huguenots,

83

VI.

The Germans,

90

VII.

The Welsh,

110

VIII.

The Irish,

114

IX.

Erection of Berks County,

117

X.

Historical and topographical description oj
township in Berks County,

' each

122

XL

General Statistics of Berks County,

262

Appendix, A, .

275

Addenda,

290

CONTENTS

OF THE HISTORY OF LEBANON COUNTY.

«HlTTI'.It.

1.

Lebanon County erected, .

:]{)!

11.

General Statistics of Lebanon County,

;i()S

III.

Geology of Berks and Lebanon County,

374

IV.

Internal Improvements,

:^7s

V.

The American Revolution,

38ti

VI.

Education,

407

VII.

Religious History,

4K)

VIII.

History of the Press, etc.,

470

IX.

Miscellaneous,

000

Appendix, B, .

489

Addenda, .

491

E RRATA.

Numerous typographical errors occur, some of which it is important
that they should be noted to prevent mistakes in dates, facts and names.
The first numerals, in these corrections, indicate the page; those at the
close of the correction, the line; always counting from the top of the page,
unless otherwise stated.

Page 17, Alligewi, Te3.i Alliwegi, line 25; 71, Mechir, Melchior, 9; 71,
1754,1757,3; 77, spring, sprang, 13; Yon, Ton, 7; 1910, 1710,36; 93,
Redemptions, Redemptioner, 16; 94, mak2wlght!<, makeweights, 5; 105, afie'r,
often, 20; 125, cciimot be enabled, on not being able, 12; 125, Alhimmapccs,
Allummapees, 11; 131, life, lives, 8; lio, mannfadures, manufactorj^ 17;
174, 1838, 1758,6; 181, 1735, 1758; 183, filM, Held, 12; 184, 1841, 1741,
30 ; 185, school, church, 38 ; 186, 1852, 1752 ; 1833, 1756, 8 ; 196, 34, 14, 9 ;
197,purUsn, purlieu, 29; 199, whcrcfrom, wherefor, 8; 190, 1818, 1718, 10;
199, Reads, Revds., 25 ; 199, dcpitties wxs, deputies' case was, 29 , 2D0, soii!h-
#z?% southwest, 30; 201, ficc, four children, 3 ; 201, .Anna, Madlini, Anna
Madlina, 4; in the foot note, page 201, first line read, page 181. in a note
we stated on the authority of family tradition. 204, Wihon, Weiscr, 13;
304, mild, wild, 33; 205, Pyrlacm, Pyrlaeus, 17; 205, Shamokia, Shekome-
ko, 32; 205, Shcmokin, Shekomeko, 36; 210, Tueipwrnrn'r, Teedyscung, 11 ;
222, Loner, Lower, 35 ; 223, 1744, 1844, 3 ; 245, respectively, repeatedly, 29 ;
fH7,better, bitLer,24;- 259, turnpikes, townships, 23; 427, Krichel, Kriebel, 12.
Errors. — Union township in Lebanon county, was taken entirely from
Eist Hanover, and no part of it from Switara township.

Lebanon contains one or two taverns less than stated on page 312.
Oniissiom. — We omitted to state in its proper place, that there were se-
veral Banks in the Borough of Reading, viz : — The Farmers' Bank of
Reading, incorporated in 1S14, and the Berks County Bank, incorporated
in 1836. The latter is in bad repute; its paper is quoted at 63 per cent,
discount!

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

Two hundred and ten years ago, no white man held possession
among the red men of the woods -within the extended limits of an
uncultivated territory of Pennsylvania, three himdred and ten
miles in length, and one hundred and sixty in breadth, coiitain-
ing rising thirty million acres of land ; and, at present, inhabited
by a white population numbering nearly two millioas — a region
of country, wliich, in its mountains and hills, its valliea and
glens, rivers, creeks and cascades, presents all the varieties of
the grand, " rugged, sheltered and romantic scenery ;" and, iti
the bosom of whose vfriegated surface, useful minerals, ores,
and indispensable fossils are embedded. "A little more than
two centuries ago, the lords of the soil were Indians, and v/hose
prerogative it was, that alone " their fear and their dread were
upon every beast of Pennsylvania, and upon every foul of the
air, and all that moved upon the earth in thai domain, and upon
all the fishes of the dreams,'^ but who have since been obliged
to leave their hunting grounds and wigwams, and of whom some
account vnll be given in the sequel. The Swedes were the first
who settled among the Indians within the limits of Pe:msyhMnia ;
as early as 1638, they made purchases from thew, though at
a cheap rate. The Indians sold them the use 0/ lands in and
about Tinicum isle, at one yard of baize, or a bottle of brandy,
for four hundred acres.

At Tinicum isle, the seat of government c/ the New Sweden
colony, John Printz, erected in 1642, a spacious mansion, well
known in history as Piintz's Hall. The Swedes, however, were
not left long in quiet possession of their new home; the Dutch,
in 1655, subdued and brought thera under the jurisdiction of
Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherlands, who, himself
and country, were shortly afterwards conquered by Charles II.,
1

14 INTRODUCTION.

of England, and New Netherlands was afterwards called New
York; and, as a consequence, the settlements on the Delaware,
first made by the Swedes, then held by the Dutch, fell into the
possession of the English, in 1664.

In Europe, a spirit of rehgious persecution, caused many an
aching heart to yearn after a place of peace and repose ; where,
in obedience to the dictates of conscience, the Almighty might
be worshipped without an impious interposition by man between
the homage of man and his Creator. At this time the founder
of Pennsylvania, on account of his religious sentiments, suffered
much in this way; and in order to escape persecution, and to
establish a colony for the oppressed of all denominations, turned
his eye upon the western world.

William Penn, born in London, October 16, 1664, grandson
of Giles Penn, and son of Sir William Penn, Admiral of the
English Navy, availed himself of the claims he had upon the
British Government, on account of the eminent services his
father had rendered that country, petitioned King Charles II.,
that, in lieu of a large sum of money, sixteen thousand pounds,
due the Admiral, at his death, to grant him letters patent for a
tract of land in America, " lying north of Maryland ; on the
east, bomided by Delaware river ; on the west, limited as Mary-
land; and northward, to extend as far as plantable."

Penn obtained a charter from Charles II., dated at West-
minster, March 4, 1681. Having now been sole proprietary
of Pennsylvania, he made sales of lands to adventurers, called
first settlers, who embarked, some at London, others at Bristol,
in 1681, for America, and arrived at Upland, now Chester, on
the 11th December. Penn, with many of his friends, chiefly
from Sussex, England, sailed for America, and landed at New
Castle on the 27th October, 1682, where he was received with
demonstrations of joy. Penn went to Upland, where he con-
vened an assembly, December 4th; and in a brief session of
three days enacted several important laws, one of which was
an act to naturalize the Dutch, Swedes, and other foreigners.

The same year that Penn arrived, there was quite an acces-
sion. The two n^.xt succeeding years, settlers from London,
Bristol, Wales, HoRand, Germany, &c., arrived to the number
of fifty sail; among these were German Quakers from Cres-
heim, near Worms in the Palatinate. The banks of the Dela-
ware was one bustling scene — some lodged in the woods in
hollow trees, some in caves, which were easily dug on the high

INTRODUCTION. 15

banks of the Wissahickon and the Delaware, and others in
haste erected huts.*

To do justice, secure the smiles of the Indians, and to meet
the approbation of Heaven, Penn held treaties of peace and
friendship with the tawny sons of the forest, and contracted
with them for their lands— this done, he proceeded to lay out
a city, by the assistance of his surveyor. Gen. Thomas Holme.
Eighty houses were erected, the first year, in Philadelphia.
Next was a survey of lands for the first settlers — this having
been completed, the Proprietary, in 1682, divided the coxmtry
into six counties — three in the territory of Delaware ; namely,
New Castle, Kent, and Sussex ; three in the provmce of Penn-
sylvania; namely, Philadelphia, Buck, and Chester; the first
and last, embracing all, and much more, of the land within the
present limits of Berks and Lebanon.

Penn remained but a short, time on his first arrival ; he sailed
for Europe, August 16, 1684, leavmg the province under the
government of five commissioners, chosen from the Provincial
council; however, previous to his departure, he made a league
of amity with nineteen Indian nations, between them and all
the'English America .f In 1699, Penn again visited the colony,
and remained only till November 1st, 1701, when he returned
to England, where he died July 80th, 1718, at Rushcomb, near
Twyford, in Buckinghamshire, aged about seventy-four years.
In 1712, he had been seized with some fits of the appoplectic
kind, which for the last six years of his life, had rendered him
incapable of doing public business.

* Proud II, 220. f Oldmixon.

CHAPTER II.

THE INDIANS.

When the Europeans first discovered the American continent,
they erroneously applied the name, Indians, to the indigenes
that inhabited the "New World," This name was given to
the aborigines of America, under a mistaken notion of having
arrived, as Colmnbus supposed, at the eastern shore of the con-
tinent of India. The erroneous application of this name was
not discovered till it had so obtained, that a change could not
have been conveniently made. However, in a historical point,
it is to be regretted that the name of the indigenes, as well as
the name of the continent which they inhabited, should have
been misapplied. The name of the continent should have been
derived from Columbus, the discoverer of the New World, in-
stead of Americus.

The writer of tliis sketch of the Indians that inhabited the
portion of Pennsylvania, comprising all wdthin the present limits
of the counties of Berks and Lebanon, does not deem it compa-
tible with the plan of this work, to give "probable theories"
concerning the origin of the aborigines of the western continent.
By what means the Indians got from the old world to the new,
has never been satisfactorily answered, by all the numerous,
long, and laborious disquisitions that have appeared from able
pens, since the discovery of America in 1492, to the present
time. Among the modern theorists who have written upon
the peopling of America, the following are the leading ones,
and to whose works the reader who wishes to inform himself
on this subject, is referred: St. Gregory, Herrera, T. Morton,
Wilhamson, Wood, Tosselyn, Thorowgood, Adair, R. William-
son, C. Mather, Hubbard, Robertson, Smith, Voltaire, Mitchill,
McCulloh, Lord Kaim, Swinton, Cabrera, Jefferson, Heckewel-
der, Drake, Flint, and others.

When the Swedes arrived in this country and settled on the
shores of the Delaware, and also when the EngHsh landed in
1681, they found a numerous race of Indians, who met the
strangers in a friendly manner ; and when, the following year,
William Penn, with his train of pacific followers arrived, he

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 17

also, with his friends, was affectionately hailed. He was treated
as liieir Miquon, or elder brot/ier.^^

At the time of Perm's arrival there were not less than ten
native tribes in Pennsylvania, comprising about six thousand in
number; these, however, formed only a portion of the Indians
inhabiting the country between Virginia and Canada; those
who were principally seated on the Delaware, were the Lenni
Lenape, and were considered the grandfathers of near forty
tribes. The others were the Mengwe, or usually called Iro-
quois, who inhabited the more northern portion of the United
States. The Iroquois were also divided into numerous tribes.

According to popular tradition, the numerous tribes of the
Delawares and Iriquois, trace their origin to two sources. The
traditions, as handed down by their ancestors run thus: — The
Lenni Lenape, or for brevity's sake, "Zencrpc," meaning, Tha
original people, were an unmixed and unchanged race, residing,
many centuries ago, towards the setting of the sun — somewhere
in the west of this continent. For some reasons, not exr
plained, they determined to migrate towards the rising of the
sun. After their journeying they arrived at the Fis/i Biver,
the JVamasi Sipu; (Mississippi,) here they fell in with a nation,
also in quest of a new home eastv.'ard — these were the Meng-
w^e, or Iroquois, as they have since been called. They here
united their forces, anticipating opposition from a people of
gigantic form, and a populous race, the Alligewi, on the east of
the Mississippi. Not many days, after their union, before they
advanced, many and mighty battles were fought — the AlliwTgi
to escape total extermination, abandoned the country to the
people of " The JVew Union," fled far southward, and never
returned. The victors now divided the spoil — the country was
shared out between themselves — the Iroquois made choice of
the north — lands in the vicinity of the great lakes, and on their
tributary streams ; the Lenape took possession of more southern
parts, where they hved in peace for many years till the Euro-
peans came.

The Lenape; or, as they were called by the Europeans, Dela-
wares, were divided into three tribes — the Unamis, or Turtle;
the Wunalachtikos, or Turkey ; and the Minsi, or Wolf. " The
Minsi or Monceys, the most warlike of the three tribes, inha-
bited a country that extends from the Minisink on the Dela-
ware, to the Hudson on the east, to the Susquehannah on the
southwest, to the head waters of the Delaware and Susquehan-

18 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

nah rivers on the north, and to that range of hills now known
in New Jersey by the name of Muskenecum, and by those of
Lehigh and Coghnewago in Pennsylvania."

The Monceys embraced a number of subordinate tribes,,
who were known by names derived from their residence, or
some accidental circumstance. Such were the Susquehannas,
Neshamines, Conestogas, and other tribes in the province of
Pennsylvania, on Penn's arrival. The limits of this chapter
Anil not admit of a further detail of the several smaller tribes.
This part of the narrative will therefore be closed by an extract
from one who was a man of more than ordinary observation,
and whose opportunity to make them correctly, was not sur-
passed by any of those who have written on the Indians at the
time of the first settlements made in the province of Pennsylva-
nia. An occasional remark will be introduced.

Extract of a letter from William Penn, Proprietor and Gover-
nor of Pennsylvania, to the committee of traders of that the
Province, residing in London, dated, Philadelphia, the 16th
of the sixth month, called August, 1683.

"The natives I shall consider, in their persons, language,
manners, religion, and government, with my sense of their ori-
ginal.

" For their persons, they are generally tall, straight, well-built,
and of singular proportion; they tread strong and clever, and
mostly walk with a lofty chin. Of complexion, black, but by
design, as the Gypsies, in England, they grease themselves
with bear's fat, clarified ; and using no defence against the sun,
or weather, their skin must needs be swarthy. Their eye is
little and black, not imhke a straight-looked Jew. The thick
lip, and flat nose, so frequent with the East Indians and blacks,
are not common to them; for I have seen as comely European-
like faces among them, of both, as on your side the sea ; and
truly, an Italian complexion hath not much more of the white ;
and the noses of several of them have as much of the Roman.

"Their language is lofty, yet narrow; but, like the Hebrew,
in signification, full; like short-hand, in writing, one word
serveth in place of three, and the rest are supphed by the
understanding of the hearer : imperfect m their tenses, wanting
in their moods, participles, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjec-
tions. I made it my business to imderstand it, that I might
not want an Interpreter on any occasion ; and I must say, that

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 19

I know not a language spoken in Europe, that hath words of
more sweetness, or greatness, in accent and emphasis, than
theirs; for instance, Odocockon, Rancocas, Oridon, Shak,
Marian, Poqiiesion, which are all the names of places; and
have grandeur in them. Of words of sweetness, Anna, is
mother; Issimus, a brother; JWtcap, friend; Usqiierot, very
good ; Pa7ie, bread ; Metso, eat ; Malta, no ; Hatta, to have ;
Payo, to come; S-passen, Passijon, the names of places; Ta-
mane, Secane, Menansc, Secatereus, are the names of persons;
if one asks them for any thing they have not, they will answer,
Matta ne hatta, which, to translate, is, not I have, instead of,
I have not."

According to Heckewelder and others, there appear to have
been four principal Indian languages, which branched out in
various dialects. These were the Karalit spoken by the Green-
landers and Esquimaux — the Iroquois, spoken by the Six J\''a-
tions, from which many and various dialects prevail — -the Flo-
ridian, spoken by all the southern Indians, and the Lenape or
Delaware, the most widely extended of all of those languages
which were spoken on this side of the Mississippi. The Iro-
quois was the next.

Those skilled in the Delaware, tell us the pronunciation is
quite easy. An extract from a translation of John's espistles,
by C. F. Dencke, as a specimen of the Delaware is presented.

Pennamook ! elgiqui penundelukquonk Wetochwink, wdaoal-
towoagon, wentschi hewilchqussiank Gettanittowit wtlamemen-
semall. Guntschi matta woachgussiwuneen untschi pemhaka-
mixitink, eli pemhakamixit taku wohaq Patamawossall.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore, the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

The letters /, v, ph, and r, are wanting in their alphabet.
The Iroquois or Six Nations have the letter r. The following
is the Lord's prayer in that language.

Soungwauncha, cam-ounkyauga, tehseetaroan, saulwoneyou-
sta, es a, sawaneyou, okettauhsela, elmeawoung, na, cau/oun-
kyauga, nugh, wonshauga, neattewehnesalauga, taugwaunau-
toronoantoughsick, toantangweleewheyoustaung, cheneeyent,
chaquatautaleywheyoustaunna, toughsan, langwassareneh, ta-
wantottenaugaloughtoungga, nasawne, sacheautaugwass, con-
tehsalohaunzaikaw, esa, sawauneyou, esa, sashantzta, esa, soun- .
gwasoung, chenneauhaungwa, anwen.

20 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANi>N COUNTIES.

Their language is highly figurative. Tlioy are fond, says
Heckewelder, of metaphors. They are to lluir discourse what
feathers and beads are to their persons, a g:i\vdy but tasteless
ornament. The following specimens will a Ih 1 1 1 an idea of their
metaphors. The sky is overcast with dark blusiering clouds;
meaning, We shall have trouble some times; we .shall have war.
Ji black cloud has arisen yonder — War is threatened from that
quarter, or from that nation. Two black clouds are draioing
towards each other — Two powerful enemies are drawing to-
wards each other. The j)ath is already shut up — Hostilities
have commenced, . the war is begun. The rivers run with
blood — War rages in the country. To bury the hatchet — To
make or conclude a peace. To lay down the hatchet, or to slip
the hatchet under the bedstead — To cease fighting for a while,
during a truce. You did not make me strong — You gave me
nothing. The stronger you make me, the more you will see
me — -The more you give me, the more I will do for you. You
now speak from the heart — ^Now you mean wdiat you say. Fwt
keep me in the dark — You deceive me. You stopped my ears —
You did not wish me to know it. Mow I believe you — Done !
agreed ! It shall be so ! Your words have penetrated into my
heart! — I consent I am pleased with what you say. You have
spoken good words — I am pleased with what you say. Sing-
ing birds — Tale-bearers, liars. DonH listen to the singing of
birds ivhich fly by — Don't believe what stragglers tell you.
To kindle a council fire at such a place — To appoint a place
where to transact national business. DonH look the other way —
Don't join with those. Look this way — Join our party. /
have not room to spread my blanket — I am too much crowded
on. / will place you under my wings — I will protect you at
all hazards ! Suffer no grass to grow on this war path — Carry
on the war with vigor. The paih to that nation is again open
— We are again on friendly terms. I am much too heavy to
rise at this present time—1 have too much property ! (corn,
vegetables, &,c.) / will pass one night yet at this place — I
will stay one year yet at this place. I'o bury the hatchet be-
neath the root of a tree — To put it quite out of sight. To bury
injuries done, deep in the earth — To consign injuries done, to
oblivion. One night's encamptment — A halt of one year at a
place.

"Of their customs and manners there is much said. I will
begin with children : So soon as they are born they wdsh them
in w^ater ; and while very young, and in cold weather, they

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 21

plunge them in the rivers to harden and embolden them>
Having wrapped them in a clout, they lay them on a strait,
thin board, a little more than the length and breadth of the
child, and swaddle it fust, upon the board, to make it straight;
wherefore all the Indians have flat heads; and thus they carry
them at their backs. The children will go, very young, at nine
months commonly; they wear only a small clout round their
waste, till they are big; if boys, they go a fishing, till they are
ripe for the woods, which is about lifteen; then they hunt:
and after having given some proofs of their manhood, by a good
return of skins, they may marry ; else it is a shame to think of
a wife. The girls stay with their mothers and help to hoe the
groimd, plant corn, and carry burdens; and they do well to
use them to that, young, which they must do when they are
old ; for the mvcs are the true servants of the husbands, other-
wise the men are very affectionate to them.

"When the young women are fit for marriage they wear some-
thing upon their heads for an advertisement ; but so as their
faces are hardly seen, but when they please. The age they
marry at, if women, is about thirteen and fourteen; if men,
seventeen and eighteen; they are rarely older.

" Their liouses are mats, or barks of trees set on poles, in the
fiishion of an English barn ; but out of the power of the winds :
for they are hardly higher than a man; they lie on reeds, or
grass. In travel, they lodge in the woods, about a great lire,
with the mantle of duffils, they wear by day, wrapped about
them, and a few boughs stuck around them.

" Their diet is maize or Indian corn, divers ways prepared :
sometimes roasted in the ashes, sometimes beaten and boiled
with water, which they call homine ; they also make cakes, not
unpleasant to eat. They have likewise several sort of beans
and peas that are good nourishment; and the woods and rivers
are their border.

"If an European come to see them, or calls for lodging at their
house or wigwam, they give him the best place and first cut.
If they come to visit us, they salute us with an Itah; which is
as much as to say. Good be to you, and set them down ; vrhich is
mostly on the ground, close to their heels, their legs upright;
it may be, they speak not a word, but they observe all pas-
sages. If you give them any thing to eat or drink, well ; for
they will not ask ; and be it little, or be it much, if it be with
kindness, they are well pleased ; else they go away sullen, but

23 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

" They are great concealers of their own resentment ; brought
to it, I believe, by the revenge that hath been practised among
them. In either of these they are not exceeded by the Ita-
lians. A tragical instance fell out since I came into the coun-
try : A king's daughter thinking herself slighted by her hus-
band, in suffering another woman to lie down between them,
rose up, went out, plucked a root out of the ground and ate it ;
upon which she immediately died ; and for which, last week, he
made an offering to her kindred for atonement and liberty of
marriage ; as two others did to the kindred of their wives, who
died a natural death. For, till widowers have done so, they
must not marry again. Some of the young women are said to
take undue liberty before marriage, for a portion; but when
married, chaste. When with child they know their husbands
no more till delivered ; and during their month they touch no
meat ; they eat but with a stick, lest they should defile it ; nor
do their husbands frequent them till that term be expired.

"But, in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their
friend. Give them a fine gun, coat, or any thing, it may pass
twenty hands before it sticks ; fight of heart, strong affection,
but soon spent. The most merry creature that lives, feast and
dance perpetually; they never have much, nor want much;
wealth circulates like the blood ; all parts partake ; and though
none shall want what another hath, yet exact observers of pro-
perty. Some kings have sold, others presented me with seve-
ral parcels of land ; the pay or presents I made them were not
hoarded by the particular owners; but the neighboring kings
and their clans being present when the goods were brought out,
the parties chiefly concerned, consulted what, and to whom
they should give them. To every king then, by the hands of
a person for that purpose appointed, is a proportion sent, so
sorted and folded, and with that gravity that is admirable.
Then that king subdivides it, in like manner, among his depen-
dants ; they hardly leaving themselves an equal share of their
subjects ; and be it on such occasion as festivals, or at their
common meals, the kings distribute, and to themselves last.
They care for little, because they want but little; and the rea-
son is, a fittle contents them. In this they are sufficiently re-
venged on us; if they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are
also free from our pains. They are not disquieted with bills
of lading and exchange, nor perplexed with chancery suits, and
exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to five ; their plea-
sure feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing, and fowling;

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 23

'and their table is spread every where. They eat twice a day,
morning and evening; their seats and table are the ground.
Since the European came into these parts, they are great lovers
of strong liquor, rum especially ; and for it they exchange the
richest of their skins and furs. If they are heated with liquor,
they are restless till they have enough to sleep ; that is their
cry, some more, and I will go to sleep ; but w'hen drunk, one
of the most wretched creatures in the world !

"In sickness impatient to be cured, and for it give every thing,
especially for their children, to w^hom they are extremely natu-
ral. They drink at those times, a iei-an, or decoction of some
roots in spring water; and if they eat any flesh, it must be of
the female of any creature. If they die they bury them with
their apparel, be they man or woman; and the nearest of kin
fling in something precious with them, as a token of their love ;
their mom'ning is blacking of their faces, which they contmue
for a year. They are choice of the graves of their dead ; for,
lest they should be lost by time, and fall to common use they
pick off the grass that grows upon them, and heap up the fallen
earth, with great care and exactness.

" These poor people are under a dark night in things relating
to religion, to be sure the tradition of it; yet they believe
a God and immortality, without the help of metaphysics; for,
they say, there is a Great King that made them, who dwells
in .a glorious country to the southward of them; and that the
souls of the good shall go thither, where they shall live again.
Their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico.
Their sacrifice is their first fruits; the first and fattest bucks
they kill goeth to the fire, where he is all burnt, with a mourn-
ful ditty of him that performeth the economy; but w4th such
marvellous fervency and labor of body, that he will even sweat
to a foam. The other part is their cantico, performed by round
dance, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; two
being in the middle that begin; and, by singing and drumming
on a board, direct the chorus. Their postures in the dance are
very antick and differing, but they all keep measure. This is
with equal earnestness and labor, but great appearance of joy.
In the fall when the corn comes in, they begin to feast one an-
other. There have been two great festivals already, to which
all come that will. I was at one myself: their entertainment
was a great feast by a spring, under some shady trees, and
twenty bucks with hot cakes of new corn, both wheat and
beans ; which they make up in a square form, in the leaves of

24 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

the steam and bake them in the ashes; and after that they fall
to dance. But they that go must carry a small present, in their
money; it may be sixpence; which is made of the bone of a
fish, the black is with them, as gold ; the white, silver ; they
call it wampum."

Conrad Weiser's letter to a Friend respecting the Indians views
on the subject of rehgion ; showing that they have a strong
confidence in the overruling Providence of God.

Heidelhurg, Berks co., 1746.
Esteemed Friend: — I write this in compliance Avith thy
request, to give thee an account of what I have observed among
the Indians, in relation to their belief and confidence in a Divine
Being, according to the observations I have made, from 1714,
in the time of my youth, to this day.

If, by the word religion, people mean an assent to certain
creeds, or the observance of a set of religious duties; as ap-
pointed prayers, singing, baptism, or even Heathenish worship,
then it may be said, the Five Nations and their neighbors, have
no religion. But, if by religion, we mean an attraction of the
soul to God, whence proceeds a confidence in, a hunger after,
the knowledge of Him, then this people must be allowed to have
some religion among them, notwithstanding their sometimes
savage deportment. For we find among them some traces of
a confidence in God alone; and, even, sometimes, though but
seldom, a vocal calling upon Him: I shall give one or two
instances of tliis, that fell under my own observation.

In the year 1737, I was sent, the first time, to Onondaga, at
the desire of the Governor of Virginia ; I departed in the latter
end of February, very unexpectedly, for a journey of five hun-
dred English miles, through a wilderness, where there was
neither road nor path, and at such a time of the year, when
animals could not be met with for food. There were with me,
a Dutchman and three Indians. After we had gone one hun-
dred and fifty iniles on our journey, we came to a narrow val-
ley, about half a mile broad and thirty long, both sides of which
v/ere encompassed with high mountains; on which the snov/
laid about three feet deep: in it ran a stream of water, also
about three feet deep, which was so crooked that it kept a con-
tinued winding from one side of the valley to another. In order
to avoid wading so often through the water, we endeavored to
pass along the slope of the moimtain ; the snow being three

• HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 25

feet deep, and so hard frozen on the top that we walked upon
5t : but we were obliged to make holes in the snow with our
hatchets, that our feet might not slip down the mountain ; and
thus we crept on. It happened that the old Indian's foot slipped,
and the root of a tree by which he held breaking, he slid down
the mountain, as from the roof of a house ; but happily he was
stopped in his fall, by the string which fastened his pack, hitch-
ing on the stump of a small tree. The two Indians could not
go to his aid, but our Dutch fellow-traveller did ; yet not with-
out visible danger of his own life. I also could not put a foot
forward, till I was helped ; after this we took the first oppor-
tunity to descend into the valley, which was not till after we
had labored hard for half an hour with hands and feet. Having
observed a tree lying directly off from where the Indian fell,
when we were got into the valley again, we went back about
one hundred paces, where we saw, that if the Indian had slipped
four or five paces further, he would have fallen over a rock one
hundred feet perpendicular, upon craggy pieces of rocks below.
The Indian was astonished, and turned quite pale; then, with
outstretched arras, and great earnestness, he spoke these words :
'■^ I thank the great Lord and Governor of this world, in that
he has had m?rcy upon mc, and has been willing that I should
live longer.'' Which words I, at that time, put down in my
journal: this happened on the 25th of March, 1737.

On the 9th of April following, while we were yet on our
journey, I found myself extremely weak, through the fatigue of
so long a journey, with the cold and hunger, which I had suf-
fered; there having fallen a fresh snow about twenty inches
deep, and we being yet three days journey from Onondago, in
a frightful wilderness, my spirit failed, my body trembled and
shook; I thought I should fill down and die; I stepped aside,
and sat down under a tree, expecting there to die. My com-
panions soon missed me; the Indians came back and found me
sitting there. They remained awhile silent; at last, the old
Indian said : " My dear companion, thou ha^t hitherto encour-
aged us, wilt thou now quite give up? remember that evil days
are better than good days; for when v^e suffer much we do
not sin; sin will be driven out us by suffering, and God caimot
extend his mercy to them; but contrary wise, when it goeth
evil with us, God hath compassion on us." These words made
rae ashamed; I rose up, and travelled as well as I could.

The next year, (1738,) I went another journey to Onon-
o

26 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNXIIl^.

dago, in company with Joseph Spangenberger, and two others.
It happened that an IncUan canii to us in the evening, who had
neither shoes, stockings, shirt, gun, knife, nor hatchet ; in a
word, he had nothing hut an old torn blanket, and some rags.
Upon enquiring whither he was going, he answered to Onon-
dasfo, I knew him, and asked him how he could undertake a
journey of three hunth-ed miles so naked and unpoverished,
having no provisions, nor arms, to kill animals for his suste-
nance .' He answeretl, he had been among enemies, and had
been obliged to save himself by flight ; and so had lost all ; for
he had disposed of some of his things amang the Irish, for
strong hquors. Upon further talk, he told me very cheerfully,
"That God formed every thing, which had life, even the rattle-
snake itself, though it was a btid creature; and that God would
also provide, in such a manner, that he should go thither; that
it was visible God was with the Indians in the wilderness, be-
cause they always cast their care upon him; but that, contrary
to this, the Europeans always carried their bread with them."
He was an Onondigo Iniim; his name was Ono)itai^-keta — the
next day we travelled ia com niny; and the day following I
provided him with a knif^, hatchet, Hint, tinder, also shoes and
stockings, and seat him before m^, to give notice to the coun-
cil at Onon Ligo, that I wascomi.ig; which he truly performed,
being got thither three days b_'fo;e i.s.

Two years ago, I was s^nt by the Governor to Shamokin,
on account of tae unh ip oy death of John Armstrong, the In-
dian trader, (1744.) After I ha 1 performed my errand, there
was a feast prepared, to which the Governor's messengers
were invited; there were abiit one hundred persons present;
to who n, after we ha I in great silence, devoured a fat bear, the
eldest of the chiefs mi L- a speecli, in which he said: "That, by
a great misfor'tane, th'-ee of the bretbren,. the white mzn, had
been killed by an Indian; that nevertheless the sun was not
set, (meaning there wis no war,) it had only been somewhat
darkened by a small cloud, which was now done away; he that
had doie evil was hke to be punished, and the land to remain
in peace: ther -ibre, he exh:);ted his people to thankfulness to
GjI; and the;\^fore he be^ai to sing with an awful solemoity,
but without expressing any words; the others accompanied
him with their voices: afcer they had done, the same Indian
with great earnestness of fervour, spoke these words: " Thanks,
thinks, hz to /'.;;?, thou gnat Lord of the world, in thit thou

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 27

hast again caused the sun to shine, and hast dispersed the dark
cloud — the Indians are thine^

"Their government is by Kings, which they call Sachcma;
and those by succession, but always of the mother's side. For
instance, the children of him, who is now king, will not suc-
ceed, but his brother, by the mother, or the children of his sis-
ter, whose sons, and alter them the children of her daughters
will reign, for no w^oman inherits. The reason, they render for
this way of descent is, that their issue may not be spurious.

"Every King hath his council; and that consists of all the
old and wise men of his nation; which, perhaps, is two hun-
dred people. Nothing of moment is undertaktn, be it war,
peace, selUng of land, or traffick, without advising with them;
and, which is more, with the young men too. It is admirable
to consider how powerful the kings are, and yet how they
move by the breath of their people. I have had occasicn to
be in council with them, upon treaties for land, ar.d to adjust
the terms of trade. Their order is this: The king sits in the
middle of an half moon, and hath his council, the old and wise,
on each hand; behind him, or at a little distar.ce, sit the yoing,
or fry, in the same figure. Having consulted and resolved their
business, the king ordered one of them to speak to me ; he stood
up, came to me, and, in the name and authoiity of his King,
saluted me, then took me by the hand, and told me, he was
ordered by his king to speak to me, and that now it was not
he, but the king that spoke, because what he should say was
the king's mind. He first prayed me, "To excuse them, that
they had not complied with me, the last time ; he fearcfl there
might be some fault in the Interpreter, being neither Indian ror
Enghsh: beside it was the Indian custom to dehberate and take
up much time in council, before they resolved; and that if the
young people and owners of the land had been as ready as he,
I hatl not met with so much delay." Having thus introduced
his matter, he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed
to be disposed of, and the price, which now is little and dear;
that which would have bought twenty miles, not buying now
two. During the time that this person spoke, not a man of
them w^as observed to whisper or smile; the old, grave; the
young, reverent in their deportment. They spoke little, but
fervently, and with elegance. I have never seen more natural
{Sagacity, considering them without the help, (I. was going to

28 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

say) the spoil of tradition; and he will deserve the name of
wise that outwit them, in any treaty, about a thing they under-
stand. When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed
between us, of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the
Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave
light. Which done, another made a speech to the Indians, in
the name of all the Sachamakers or kings; first to tell them
what was done, next to charge and command them, " To love
the Christian, and particularly live in peace with me and the
people under my government ; that many Governors had been
in the river, but that no Governor had come himself to live and
stay here before ; and having now such an one that had treated
them well they should never do him, or his, any wrong." At
every sentence of which they shouted, and said. Amen, in their

" The justice they have, is pecuniary. If they commit any
wrong or evil, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts, and pre-
sents of their wampum ; which is proportioned to the quality of
the offence, or persons injured, or of the sex they are of. For,
in case they killed a woman, they pay double; and the reason
they render is, that she breedeth children, which men cannot
do. It is rare that they fall out, if sober ; and, if drunk, they
forgive it, saying, " It was the drink and not the man that
abused them."

"We have agreed that in all differences between us, six of
each side shall end the matter. Do not abuse them, but let
them have justice, and you do win them. The worst is, that
they are the worse for the Christians, who have propagated
their vices, and yielded them tradition for ill, and not for good
things. But as low an ebb as these people are at, and as in-
glorious as their own condition looks, the Christians have not
outlived their sight, with all their pretensions to an higher
manifestation. What, good then, might not a good people graft,
where there is so distinct a knowledge left between good and
evil? I beseech God to incline the hearts of all that come into
these parts, to outlive the nations, by a fast obedience to their
greater knowledge of the will of God; for it were miserable
indeed for us to fall under the just censure of the poor Indian's
conscience, while we make profession of things so far transcend-
ing.

" For their original, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish
race ; I mean, of the stock of the ten tribes ; and that, for the

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 29

following reasons: First, they were to go to a "land not
planted, nor known;" which, to be sure, Asia and Afiica were,
if not Europe; and He that intended that extraordinary judg-
ment upon them, miglit make the passage not uneasy to thtm,
as it is not impossible in itself, from the easternmost parts of
Asia to the westernmost of America.

"In the next place, I find them of the like countenance, and
children of so lively resemblance, that a man would think him-
self in Duke place, or Jierry street, London, when he seeth
them. But this is not all; they agree in rite; they reckon by
moons; they otl'er thtir fiist fiuits; they have a kird of feast
of tabernacles; they are said to lay their altar on twelve stcnes;
their mourning a year; customs of wcmen, with many other
things, that do not now occur."

Peter Kalm, the Swedish natural philosopher, a great tra-
veller and a clear observer, visited this country, in 1748, wrote
a work, in which he gives a minute account of them. An ex-
tract, it is thought, will not Le out of place here. Speaking of
ihk'iv food and tnode of Ihinf, he sajs:

Maize, (Indian cori^,) seme kinds of Leans, r,nd melons, made
up the sum of the Indian's gaidti.ing. Iheir chief support
arose frcm hunting and fishing. Lesides these, the oldest
Svveiles, related that the Irdiars weie rccustcrced to get nour-
ishment from the following plants, lo wit:

Ilopniss, so called by the Irdii.ns, ard also by the Swedes,
(the Glycine Aj)ios ci' LirnjEis,) they loLi d in tie meadows.
The roots lestmbled } otalces, ai d veie eaten boiled, instead of
bread.

Katniss, so calk d by the Indians and Swedes, (a kind of
Sagittaria sagittifolia,) was frii.d in lew wet ground; had cb-
long roots i.early i;s laige r.s the fist; this they boiled or roasted
in the ashes. Several Swedes said they like to eat of it in their
youth. The ho^s j1- ( d lln m mi eh, and made them very scarce.
Mr. Kalm, who ale of them, thought ihey tr.sted like ] ctatoes.
When the Indians fiist saw tuirijs, they called them katniss,
too.

Ta\v-ho, so caikil by the Indians and SwTdes, (the Arum
Virginicum, or Wakerobir', and poisonous!) grew in moist
ground, and swamps; they ate the root of it. The roots grewr
to the thickness of a man's thigh; and the hogs rooted them
up and elevoured them eagerly. The Indians destroj ed their

poisonous quahty by baking them. They made a long trench

9*

30 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COTNTIES.

in the ground, put in the roots and covered them with earthy
and over them they made a great fire. They tasted somewhat
like potatoes.

Taw-kee, so called by the Indians and Swedes, (the Oron-
tium Aquaticum,) grew plentifully in moist low grounds. Of
these they used the seed, when dried. These they boiled re-
peatedly to soften them, and then they ate somewhat like
peas. When they got butter and milk from the Swedes, they
boiled them together.

Bilberries, or whortleberries, (a species of Vaccinium,) was a
common diet among the Indians. They dried them in the sun,
and kept them parched as close as currants.

Of their implements for domestic or field use. The old
boilers or kettles of the Indians were either made of clay, or of
different kinds of pot-stone, (Lapis Ollaris.) The former con-
sisted of a dark clay, mixed with grains of white sand or quartz,
and probably burnt in the fire. Many of these kettles had
two holes in the upper margin ; on each side one, through which
they passed a stick, and held therewith the kettle over the fire.
[t is remarkable that none of these pots have been found glazed
either inside or outside. A few of the old Swedes could remem-
ber to have seen the Indians use such pots to boil their meat
in. They were made sometimes of a grayish pot stone; and
some were made of another species of a pyrous stone. They
were very thin. Mr. Bartram, the botanist, showed him an
earthen pet, which had been dug up at a place where the In-
dians had lived. On the outside it was much ornamented. Mr.
Bartram has also several broken pieces. They were all made
of mere clay, in which were mixed, according to the conve-
nience of the makers, pounded shells of snails and muscles, or
of the crystals found in the mountains; it was plain, they did
not burn them much, because they could be cut up with a knife.
Since the Europeans have come among them, they disuse them,
and have even lost the art of making them.

The hatchets of the Indians were made of stone, somewhat
of the shape of a wedge. This was notched round the biggest
end, and to this they aflixed a split stick for a handle, bound
round with a cord. These hatchets could not serve, however,
to cut any thing like a tree ; their means, therefore, of getting
trees for canoes, &c., was to put a great fire round the roots of
a big tree to burn it off, and with a wet swab of rags on a pole
to keep the tree constantly wet above until the fire below burnt

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 31

it off. When the tree was down, they laid dry branches on
the trunk and set fire to it, and kept swabbing that part of the
tree which they did not want to burn; thus the tree burnt a
hollow in one place only ; when burnt enough, they chipped or
scraped it smooth inside with their hatchets, or sharp flints, or
sharp shells.

Instead of knives, they used little sharp pieces of flints or
quartz, or a piece of sharpened bone.

At the end of the arrows they fastened narrow angulated
pieces of stone; these were commonly flints or quartz. Some
made use of the claws of birds and beasts.

They had stone pestles of about a foot long and five inches
in thickness; in these they pounded their maize. Many had
only wooden pestles. The Indians were astonished beyond
measure, when they saw the first windmills to grind corn. They
were, at first, of opinion that not the wind, but spirits within
them gave them their momentum. They would come from a
great distance, and set down for days near them, to wonder
and admire at them!

The old tobacco pipes were made of clay or pot stone, or
sepertine stone, and were seen chiefly with the Sachems. Some
of the old Dutchmen, at New York, preserved the tradition that
the first Indians seen by Europeans made use of copper for
their tobacco pipes, got from the second river, near Elizabeth
river. In confirmation of this, it was observed that the people
met with holes w^orked into the mountains, out of which some
copper had been taken ; and they even found some tubes which
the Indians probably used for the occasion. They usedbird's
claws instead of fishing-hooks ; the Swedes saw them sucSeed-
in this w^ay.

" The Indians made their ropes, bridles, and twine for nets,
out of a wild weed, growing abundantly in old corn fields, com-
monly called Indian hemp, (i. e., Linum Yirginianum.) The
Swedes used to buy fourteen yards of the rope for a loaf of
bread, and deemed them more lasting in the water than
that made of true hemp. Mr. Kalm himself saw Indian wo-
men rolling the filaments of this plant upon their bare thighs, to
make of them thread and strings, which they dyed red, yellow,
black, &c.

" The Indians at first were much more industrious and labo-
rious, and before the free use of ardent spirits, attained to a
great age. In early time they were every where spread about

32 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

among the Swedes. They had no domestic animals among"
them before the arrival of the Europeans, save a species of little
dogs. They readily sold their lands to the Swedes for a small
price. Such tracts as would have brought $400 currency in
Kalm's time, had been bought for a piece of baize or a pot of
brandy I

The Indians told Kalm, as their tradition, that when they
saw the first European ship on their coast, they were perfectly
persuaded that Manitto, or God himself, was in the ship; but
when they first saw the negroes, they thought they were a true
breed of devils.

"The last of the Lenape, (Delaware,) nearest resident to Phi-
ladelphia, died in (.'hester county, in the person of "Old Indian
Hannah," in 1803. She had her wigwam many years upon
the Brandywine, and used to travel much about, sellirg her
baskets, &c. On such occasions she was often followed by her
dog and pigs — all stopr ing where she did. She lived to be
nearly a humh'ed years of age— had a proud ard lofty s]i;it to
the last— hated the blacks, and scarcely brooked the lower
order of whites; her family before her,' hsd dwelt with other
Indians in Kennet township. She often spoke emphatically of
the wrongs and misfortunes of her race, uj on w hem her ailec-
tions still dwelt. As she grew old, she quitted her solitude,
and dwelt in fiiendly feimihes.

"As late as 1705, the Shawnese had their wigwams at the
Beaver pond, near Carlisle, Cumberland county; and as late as
1760, Doctor John, living in Cailisle, Avith his wife and two
children, were cruelly muideied, by persons i:i known. He
was a chief. The governor offered $100 rewarct."

" Present st^te and refuge of the Indians. — The Indian na-
tion of the Delawarcs— our proper Indians — was once one of
the most numerous and powerful tribes, but are now reduced
to aliout four or five hundred souls, and scattered among otlier
tribes. The chief place, according to Watson, whei^e they now
hold any separate character and community, is at the river
Thames, (1830,) in Upper Canada, about seventy miles from
Detroit, where they settled about the year 1793. — Watsoiv's
^nnals.

CHAPTEE III.

MURDERS COMMITTED BY THE INDIANS.

In the year 1744, open hostilities were declared between
Great Brittain and France, which involved not only the mother
country, but also the colonies ; and, of course, Pennsylvania,
that had up to this time enjoyed tranquilhty, now began to feel
the effects of the war between France and England. Shortly
after the declaration of hostility between those great rival na-
tions, the French hovered along the great lakes, and succeeded
in their machinations to a orreat extent in seducino; the Indians
from their allegiance to the English. Many of the Indians,
being dissatisfied with the English on account of their lands,
went over to the French, and the affairs of the colonies changed
aspects on Braddock's defeat, in 1755. From that period, tiU
1764, Berks and Lebanon counties were scenes of murder and
burning of houses, &c. The apprehensions of those who feared
the consequences of Braddock's defeat, were shortly realized.
Governor Robert Morris, in his message of July 24, 1755,
to the Assembly, has the followhig language in relation to the
defeat: "This unfortunate and unexpected change in our
affairs deeply effect every one of his majesty's colonies, but
none of them in so sensible a manner as this province, while
having no militia, is thereby left exposed to the cruel incursions
of the French and barbarous Indians, who delight in shedding
human blood, and who make no distinction as to age or sex —
as to those that are armed against them, or such as they can
surprise in their peaceful habitations — all are alike the objects
of their cruelty — slaughtering the tender infant, and frightened
mother, with equal joy and fierceness. To such enemies, spurred
by the native cruelty of their tempers, encouraged by their late
success, and having now no army to fear, are the inhabitants
of this province exposed ; and by such must we now expect to
be overrun, if we do not immediately prepare for our own de-
fence; nor ought we to content ourselves with this, but resolve
to drive to and confine the French to their own just limits."*

The following extracts from the official documents at Har-
* ''otes Ass. 4, 416.

34 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

risbui'g, and the Gazettes of that da}', as well as copies from
original manuscript letters, written at the time, will attord some
idea of the extent of depredations and murders committed upon
the frontier inhabitants, coming legitimately within the bounds
of that portion of territory, of which a history is attempted.

A brief narrative of the incursions anti ravages of the French
and Indians, in the Province of Pennsylvania, made by the Sec-
retary of the Province, at Philadelphia, 27th December, 1755.
Provincial Records, N. p. 340-2.

October 15, 1755, a party of Indians fell upon the inhabi-
tants on Mahahany (or Penn's) creek, that runs into the river
Susquehannah, about live miles lower than the Great Fork made
by the juncture of the two main branches of the Susquehannah,
killed and carried off about twenty-five persons, and burnt and
destroyed their buildings and improvements, and the whole set-
tlement was deserted." — Provincial Records, N. 340.

A petition to Governor Morris, from inhabitants on the west
side of the Susquehannah, is presented here, to show the alarm-
ing condition of the settlers in that part of the province, at the
time alluded to in the Secretary's narrative.

"We, the subscribers, near the mouth of Penn's creek, on
the w^est side of the Susquehanna, humbly show, that on or
about the 16th inst., (October, 1755,) the enem_y came down
upon said creek and killed, scalped, and carried away all the
men, women, and children, amounting to twenty-five in num-
ber, and w^ounded one man, who fortunately made his escape,
and brought us the news, whereupon the subscribers went out
and buried the dead, whom we found most barbarously murdered
and scalped.

" We found but thirteen, who w^ere men and elderly women ;
and children we suppose to be carried away prisoners. The
house where we suppose they finished their murder, we found
burnt up ; and the man of it, named Jacob King, a Swisser,
lying just by it. He lay on his back, barbarously burnt, and
two tomahawks sticking in his forehead ; one of those raaiked
newly with W. D. — we have sent them to your honor. The
terror of which, has driven away almost all the back inhabi-
tants, except the subscribers, with a few more wdio are willing
to stay and endeavor to defend the land ; but as we are not all
able of ourselves to defend it for the want of guns and ammu-
nition, and but few in number, so that without assistance, we
must flee and leave the country to the mercy of the enemy.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 35

"We, therefore, humbly desire it, that your honor would
take the same into consideration, and order some speedy relief
for the safety of these back settlements, and be j^leased to give
us speedy orders what to do.

" George Gliwell, Gates Auchmudy, John McCalion, Abi-a-
ham Soverkill, Edmund Matthews, Mark Curry, William Do-
ran, Dennis Mucklehenny, John Young, John Simmons, George
Snabble, George Aberheart, Daniel Braugh, George Lynn, and
Gotfried Fryer."*

In continuation of the Secretary's narrative, he adds: "Octo-
ber 23, 175-3, forty-six of the inhabitants on Susquehannah,
went to Shamokin to enquire of the Indians there, who they
were who had so cruelly fallen upon and ruined the settlements
on Mahahony creek; on their return from Shamokin, they were
fired upon by some Inilians who lay in ambush, anfl lour were
killed, four drowned, and the rest put to flight, on which all
the settlements, between Shamokin and Hunter's Mill, for the
space of fifty miles along the river Susquehannah, were deserted."
—Prov. Rec. N. 340.

The following letters from John Harris, of Harris's Ferry,
(Harrisburg,) and other gentlemen, to Governor Morris, will
cast some additional light upon this point.

Paxton, October- 20, 1755.
May it please your Honor —

I was informed last night, by a person that came down our
river, that there was a Dutch (German) woman, who made
her escape to Geo.-ge Gabriel's, and informs us that last Friday
evening, on her way home from this settlement on Mahahony,
or Penn's creek, where her family lived, she called at a neigh-
bor's house, anil saw tvv'o persons lying by the door of said
house, murdered and scalped ; and these were some Dutch
(German) f unilies that Hved near their places, immediately left,
not thinking it safe to stay any longer. It is the opinion of the
people up the river, that the families on Penn's creek being
scattered, that but few in number are killed or carried off, ex-
cept the above said woman, the certainty of which will soon
be known, as there are some men gone out to bury the dead.

By report this evening, I was likewise informed by the belt
of wampum and these Indians here, there were seen, near Sha-

* Provincial Reiuirtls, N. p. 24'2-3. Votes of Assembly 4, 495.

36 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

mokin, about six days ago, two French Indians of the Cana-
wago tribe. I a little doubted the truth of the report at first;
but the Indians have seemed so afraid, that they despatched
messengers immediately to the mountains above my house, to
bring in some of their women that were gathering chestnuts, for
fear of their being killed.

By a person just arrived down onr river j bring information
of two men being murdered within five miles of George Ga-
briel's, four women carried off, and there is one man wounded
in three places who escaped to Gabriel's, and it is imagined that
all the inhabitants on Penn's creek and Little Mahahony, are
killed or carried off, as most of them live much higher up, where
the first murder was discovered. The Indian warriors here
send you these two strings of white wampum, and the wo-
men the black one, both requesting that you would lay by
all your council pipes, immediately, and open all your eyes
and ears and view your slain people in this land, and to put a
stop to it immediately, and come to this place to our assistance
without any delay; and the belt of wampum particularly men-
tions that the proprietors and your honor would immediately
act in defence of their country, as the old chain of friendship
now is broken by several nations of Indians, and it seems to be
such as they never expected to see or hear of. Any delay on
our acting vigorously now at this time, would be the loss of
all Indian interest, and perhaps our ruin in these parts.

I am your honor's

Most obedient servant,

John Harris.

P. S. I shall endeavor to get a number of my neighbors to
go out as far as the murder has been committed ; and, perhaps,
to Shamokin, to know the minds of the Indians, and their opin-
ions of these times, and to get what intelligence I can from
them, and to encourage some of their young men to scout about,
back of the frontiers, to give us notice of the enemy's approach,
if possible, at any time hereafter. I heartily wish your honor
and the assembly, would please to agree on some method at
this time towards protecting this province, as this part of it
seems actually in danger now; for should but a company of In-
dians come and murder, but a few fiimilies hereabouts, which
is daily expected, the situation we are in would oblige num-
bers to abandon their plantations, and our cattle and provisions,
which we have plenty of, must then fall a prey to the enemy.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 37

Our Indians here seem much discouraged at the large num-
'ber of famihes passing here, every day, on account of the late
murders done on the Potomack, and will be much more so, if it
should happen to be our case. There were two Indian women
set out from here two days ago, for the Ohio, to bring some of
their relations (as they say) down here ; and should the French,
or their Indians hear by them, as they will be enquiring for
news, the effect that their late murders has had among our in-
habitants, it will be a matter of encouragement to them.*
I conclude, your honor's

Most obedient and must humble servant,

John Harris.

Paxioiij October 28, 1755.
To Governor Morris.

May it please your Honor —

This is to acquamt you, that on the 24th of October, I ar-
rived at Shamokin, in order to protect our frontiers up that
way, till they might make their escape from their cruel ene-
mies, and to learn the best intelHgences I could. The Indians
on the west branch of Susquehannah, certainly killed our in-
habitants on Mr. Penn's creek, and there are a hatchet and
two English scalps sent by them up the north branch to desire
them to strike with them, if they are men.

The Indians are all assembling themselves at Shamokin, to
council ; a large body of them was there four days ago. I can-
not learn their intentions ; but it seems Andrew Montour and
Monacatootha are to bring down the news from them. There
is not a sufficient number of them to oppose the enemy; and,
perhaps, they will join the enemy against us. There is no
dependance on Indians, and we are in imminent danger.

I got certain information from Andrew Montour, and others,
that there is a body of French with fifteen hundred Indians
coming upon us. Picks, Ottaways, Orandox, Delawares,
Shawanese, and a number of the Six Nations; and are now, not
many day's march from this Province and Virginia, which are
appointed to be attacked ; at the same, some of the Shamokin
Indians seemed friendly, and others appeared Hke enemies.

' "Provincial Records, N. p. 241-2. Votes of Assembly 4, 495

4

88 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANDN COUNTIES.

Montour knew many days of the enemy being on their marcli
against us, before he informed me ; for which I said as much to
him, as I thought prudent, considering the place I was in.

On the 25th of this instant, on my return with about forty
men, at Mr. Perm's creek, we were attacked by about twenty
or thirty Indians — received their fire, and about fifteen of our
men and myself took to the trees and attacked the villains,
killed four of them on the spot, and lost but three men ; retreat-
ing about half a mile through woods, and crossing Susquehannah,
one of whom was shot off an horse riding behind myself, through
the river* My horse before me was wounded, and failing in
the river, I was obliged to quit him, and swim part of the way.

Four or five of our men were drowned crossing the river. I
hope, our journey, though with fatigue, and loss of our sub-
stance, and some of our lives, will be of service to our country,
by discovering our enemy, who will be our ruin, if not timely
prevented.

I just now received information that there was a French of-
ficer, supposed a captain, with a party of Shawanese, Dela-
wares, &c., within six miles of Sharaokin, two days ago ; and no
doubt, intends to take possession of it, which will be a dread-
ful consequence to us, if suffered. Therefore, I thought pro-
per to despatch this messenger to imform your Honor. The
Indians here, I hope, your Honor, will be pleased to cause
them to be removed to some place, as I do not like their com-
pany ; and as the men of those here were not against us, yet
did them no harm; or else I would have them all cut off the
old belt of wampum promised at Shamokin ; to send out spies
to view the enemy, and upon his hearing of our skirmishes, was
in a rage; gathered up thirty Indians immediately and went in
pursuit of the enemy, I am this day informed.

I expect Montour and Monacathootha down here this week,
with the determination of their Shamokin council. The inha-
bitants are abandoning their plantations, and we are in a dread-
ful situation.*

I am your Honor's

Most obedient and humble servant,

John Harris.

P. S. The night ensuing our attack, the Indians burnt all
George Gabriel's houses — danced around them.

•Provincial Records, N. p. 247-8.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 39

Extract from the Provincial Records, N. p. 243: I, Thomas
Foster, Esq., Mr. Harris, and Mr. McKee, with upwards of
forty men, went up the 23d inst., (October, 1755,) to Captain
McKee, at New Providence, in order to bury the dead, lately
murdered on Mahahany creek; but understanding the corpse
were buried, we then determined to return immediately home.
But being urged by John Sekalamy, and the Old Belt, to go up
to see the Indians at Shamokin, and know their minds, we went
on the 24th, and staid there all night — and in the night, I
heard some Delawares talking — about twelve in number — to
this purpose: " What are the English come here for?" Says
another : " To kill us, I suppose ; can we then send off some of
our nimble young men to give our friends notice that can soon
be here?" They soon after sang the war song, and four In-
dians went off, in two canoes, well armed — the one canoe went
down the river, and the other across.

On the morning of the 25th, we took our leave of the In-
dians and set off homewards, and were advised to go down the
east side of the river, but fearing that a snare might be laid on
that side, we marched off peaceably, on the west side, having
behaved in the most civil and friendly manner towards them
while with them; and when we came to the mouth of Mahahany
creek, we were fired on by a good number of Indians that lay
among the bushes; on which we were obliged to retreat, with
the loss of several men ; the particular number I cannot exactly
mention ; but I am positive that I saw four fall, and one man
struck with a tomahawk, on the head, in his flight across the
river. As I understood the Delaware tongue, I heard several
of the Indians that were engaged against us, speak a good
many words, in that tongue, during the action.

Adam Terrance.

The above declaration was attested by the author's volun-
tary qualification, no magistrate being present ; at Paxton, this
26th October, 1755, before us.

John Elder, Thomas McArthur, Michael Graham, Alex*
McClure, Michael Teass, William Harris^ Thomas Black,
Samuel Lenes, Samuel Pearson, William McClure.

N. B. Of all our people that were in the action, there ar^
but nine that are yet returned.

40 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

A Letter to Governor Morris from Conrad Weiser.

Reading, October 22, 175o.
Honored Sir:

I take this opportunity to inform you, that I received news
from Shamokin, and that six families have been murdered on
Jolm Penn's creek, on the west side of the Susquehannah ; about
four miles from the river, several people have been found scalped,
and twenty-eight or more missing. The people are in great
consternation, and are coming dow^n, leaving their plantations
and corn behind them. Two of my sons are gone up to help
down one of their cousins with his family.

I hear of more that will defend themselves ; but George Ga-
briel the people down here seem to be for ourselves, and say :

The Indians will never come this side the Susquehannah river ;
but I fear they will, since they meet with no opposition any
where. I do not doubt, your Honor has heard of this melan-
choly affair before now, by the way of Lancaster, perhaps
more particularly ; yet, I thought it my duty to inform you of it ;
and when my sons come back, I will write again, if they bring
any thing particular.

I have heard nothing of the Indians that have gone up to
fight against the French on the Ohio; their going, I fear, has
been occasion of this murder. I have notliing more to add, but
am. Honored Sir,

Your very humble servant,

Conrad Weiser,

Letter to Governor Morris from Conrad Weiser.

Heidelberg, in the county of Berks, \

October 26, 1755, at 5 o'clock, Sunday evening. )
Sir:

Just now, two of my sons, Frederick and Peter, arrived from
Shamokin, where they have been to help down their cousin
with his family. I gave them orders before they went, to bring
me down a trusty Indian or two, to inform myself of the pre-
sent circumstances of the Indian affairs ; but they brought none
down ; they saw Jonathan, but he could not . leave his family*
in these dangerous times.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 41

While they were at George Gabriel's, a messenger came
from Shamokin, sent by James Logan, one of Shickelamy's
sons, and Capachpitan, a noted Delaware, always true to the
English, to let George Gabriel know that they had certain in-
telligence, that a great body of French and Indians had been
seen on their march towards Pennsylvania, at a place where
the Zinaghton river comes out of the Allegheny hills, and that
if the white people will come up to Shamokin and assist, they
will stand the French and fight them.

They say, that now they want to see their brethrens faces,
and well armed with smooth guns — no rifled guns, which re-
quire too much cleansing. They, in particuLir, desired the
company of men gathered at George Gabriel's — Capt. McKee'g.
and John Harris's men — they being informed that people had
gathered there — and that they are extremely concerned on
account of w^hite people running away, and said, they alone
could not stand the French.

The message was delivered' to George Gabriel, and to about
ten whites more, among whom were my two sons, by a Dela**
ware Indian, named Enoch, and a white man called Lawrence
Eook, who came with the Indians as a companion. The In-
dian messenger that brought the news, from the Indians living,
up the river Zinaghton, (the north-west branch of the Susque-
hannah,) arrived at Shamokin, at midnight, upon the 23d of
this inst. The Indians are extremely concernec?, as my sons
tell me, that the people are coming away in a great hurry —
the rest that stay are plundering the houses and making the
best of peoples' misfortunes.

The French want to see Jonathan taken prisoner, &c. AH
this is in great hurry. I pray, good sir, don't slight it. The
lives of many thousands are in the utmost danger. It is no
false alarm.

I am, dear sir, your humble and

obedient servant,-
Conrad Weiser.

P. S. If a body of men would go up, they could gather
plenty of Indian corn, beef, and other provisions. Now every
thing is in the utmost confusion. I suppose in a few days:
hence, not a family will be seen on the other side of Kittatiny
hills.

4*

42 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Ji Letkr to James Read^ Esq., at Reading, from Conrad Weiser,

Heidelberg, Octoher 26, at 11 o^clock, )
Sunday night, 1755. \
Mr. James Read,
Loving Friend :

About one hour ago, I received the news of the enemy
having crossed the Susquehannah, and killed a great many peo-
ple, from Thomas McKee's down to Hunter's mills.

Mr. Elder, the minister at Paxton, wrote to another Presby-
terian minister, in the neighborhood of Adam Reed, Esq. The
people were then in a meeting, and immediately designed to get
themselves in readiness, to oppose the enemy, and lend assist-
ance to their neighbors.

Mr. Reed sent down to Tulpehocken — and two men, one that
came from Mr. Reed's, are just now gone, who brought in the
melancholy news. I have sent out to alarm the townships in
this neighborhood, and to meet me early in the morning, at
Peter Spicker's, to consult together what to do, and to make
preparations, to stand the enemy, with the assistance of the
Most High.

I wrote you this, that you may have time to consult with
Mr. Seely and other well-wishers of the people, in order to de-
fend your lives and others. For God's sake let us stand
together, and do what we can, and trust to the hand of Provi-
dence— perhaps, we must, in this neighborhood, come to Read-
ing ; but I will send armed men to Susquehannah, or as far as
they can go for intellisrence.

Pray let Sammy hav«5 a copy of this, or this draft for his
Honor, the Governor. I laave sent him, about three hours ago,
express to Philadelphia, and he lodges at my son Peter's. De-
spatch him as early as you can, I pray, beware of confusion,
be calm, you and Mr. Seely, and act the part of fathers of the
people. I know you are both able; but excuse me for giving
this caution — time requires it.*

I am dear sir.

Your very good friend and

Humble servant,
Conrad Weiser.

* Provincial Records, N. p. 244-5.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 43

From the following letter, it will be seen that Weiser's let-
ter was immediately despatched as requested.

Reading, October 27th, 1755,
6 o'clock, A. M.
Governor Morris,
Sir,
I must not detain the bearer a moment. I have sent the
oiiginal letter from Mr. Weiser, that no mistake may arise by
any doubts of the justness of a copy.

I shall raise our town in an hour, and use all prudent mea-
sures for our defence. I could wish your Honor could order
us two or three swivel guns and blunderbusses, with a few
muskets, some powder, and swan shot. Nothing shall be want-
ing in me, who have the misfortune of being major of two asso-
ciated companies; but know not how my people will behave,
as they are under an infatuation of an extraordinary sort.*
I am, may it please your Honor's

Most humble servant,

James Read.
P. S. Many wagons that are got thus far, are bound back
again, immediately upon hearing this news.

Letter to Gov. Morris, from Conrad Weiser, Esq.

Reading, October 21th, 1755.
May it please your Honor —

Since the date of my last letter, which I sent by express, by
Sammy Weiser, dated last Sunday evening, 5 o'clock, and
about 11 o'clock, the same night, I sent a letter to Mr. Read,
in this town, who forwarded it to your Honor, by the same
opportunity.

The following account of what has happened since, I thought
it was proper to lay before your Honor, to wit: — After I had
received the news that Paxton people above Hunter's mills,
had been murdered, I immediately sent my servants to alarm
the neighborhood. The people came to my house by the break
of day. I informed them of the melancholy news, and how I

* Provincial Records, N. p. 244-5.

44 HISTORY OP BERKS AND L-EBANON COUNTIES,

came by it, &c. They unanimously agreed to stand by one
another, and march to meet the enemy, if I would go with
them. I told them that I would not only myself accompany
them, but my sons, and servants should also go— they put
themselves under my direction. I gave them orders to go
home and fetch their arms, whether guns, swords, pitch-forks,
axes, or whatever might be of use against the enemy, and to
bring with them three days provision in their knapsacks, and
to meet at Benjamin Spicker's, at three of the clock that after-
noon, about six miles above my house, in Tulpehocken town-
sliip, where I had sent word for Tulpehocken people also to
meet.

I immediately mounted my horse, and weni up to Benjamin
Spicker's, where I found about one hundred persons who had
met before I came there ; and after I had informed them of the
intelligence, that I had promised to go with tliem as a common
soldier, and be commanded by such officers, and leading men,
whatever they might call them, as they should choose. They
unanimously agreed to join the Heidelberg people, and accord-
ingly they went home, to fetch their arms, and provisions for
three days, and came again at 3 o'cl(ick. All this was punc-
tually performed; and about two hundred were at Benjamin
Spicker's, by two o'clock.

I made the necessary disposition, and the people were divided
into companies of thirty men in each company, and they chose
their own officers; that is, a captain over each company, and
three inferior officers under each, to take care of ten men, and
lead them on, or lire, as the captain should direct.

I sent privately for Mr. Kurtz,* the Lutheran minister, who
lived about one mile off, who came and gave an exhortation to
the men, and made a prayer suitable to the time. Then we
inarched towards Susquehannah, having first sent about fifty
men to Tolheo, in order to possess themselves of the gaps or
narrows of Swahatawro,j where he expected the enemy would
come through ; with those fifty, I sent a letter to Mr. Parsons,
who happened to be at his plantation.

We marched about ten miles that evening. My company
had now increased to upwards of three hundred men, mostly
well-armed, though about twenty men had nothing but axes,
and pitch-forks — all unanimously agreed to die together and

* Kurtz lived where Rev. Daniel Ulrich resides at present, 1844..
-j- Swatara.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 45

engage the enemy, wherever they should meet them; never to
enquire the number, but fight them, and so obstruct their way
of marching further into the inhabited parts, till others of our
brethren come up and do the same, and so save the lives of
our wives and our children.

The night we made the first halt, the powxler and lead was
brought up from Reading, (I had sent for it early in the morn-
ing,) and I ordered it to the care of the officers, and to divide
it among those that wanted it the most.

On the 28th, by daybreak, we marched; our company in-
creasing all along. We arrived at Adam Reed's, Esq., in
Hanover township, Lancaster (now Lebanon) county, at about
ten o'clock — there we stopped and rested till the rest came up.
Mr. Read had just received inteUigence from Susquehannah, by
express, which was as follows, to wit: That Justice Forster,
Capt. McKee, John Harris, and others, to the number of forty-
nine, went up to Shamokin to bury the dead bodies of those
that had been killed by the enemy on John Pemi's creek, and
coming up to George Gabriel's, about five miles this side Sha-
mokin, and on the west of Susquehannah, they heard that the
dead bodies had been buried already, and so they went along
to Shamokin, where they arrived last Friday evening, and were
seemingly well received, but found a great number of strange
Indians, the Delawares, all painted black, which gave suspi-
cion; and Thomas JNIcKee told his companions that he did not
like them, and the next morning — that is, last Saturday — they
got up early, m order to go back; but they did not see any of
the strangers. They were gone before them. Andrew Mon-
tour was there, painted as the rest; he advised our people not
to go the same road they came, but to keep on this side the
Susquehannah, and go the old road; but when they came to
the parting of the roads, a majority was for going the nighest
and best road, and so crossed Susquehannah, contrary to An-
drew Montour's counsel, in order to go down on the west side
of the river, as far as to Mahahany ; when they came to John
Penn's creek, in going down the bank, they were fired upon
from this side by the Indians that had waylaid them; some
dropped down dead; the rest fled and made towards Susque-
hannah, and came to this side, and so home, as well as they
could. Twenty-six of them were missing and not heard of as
yet, last Monday.

Upon this we had a consultation, and as we did not come up,

46 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

to serve as guards to the Paxton people, but to fight the enemy,
if they were come so far, as we first heard, we thought best to
return and take care of our own townships.

After I had given the necessary caution to the people to
hold themselves in readiness, as the enemy was certainly in the
country, to keep their arms in good order, and so on, and then
discharged them — and we marched back, with the approbation
of Mr. Reed. By the way, we were alarmed, by a report, that
five hundred Indians had come over the mountain at Tolheo, to
this side, and had already killed a number of people. We
stopped and sent a few men to discover the enemy, but, on their
return, proved to be a false alarm, occasioned by that company
that I had sent that way the day before, whose guns getting
wet, they fired them off, which was the cause of alarm — this
not only had alarmed the company, but whole townships
through which they marched. In going back, I met messen-
gers from other townships about Conestoga, who came for in-
telUgence, and to ask me where their assistance was necessary,
promising that they would come to the place where I should
direct.

I met also at Tulpehocken, above one hundred men well-
armed, as to fire arms, ready to follow me ; so that there were
in the whole, about five hundred men in arms that day, all
marching up towards Susquehannah. I, and Mr. Adam Reed,
comited those that were with me — we found them three hun-
dred and twenty.

I cannot send any further account, being uncommonly fa-
tigued. I should not forget, however, to inform your Honor,
that Mr. Reed has engaged to keep proper persons riding be-
tween his house and Susquehannah, and if any thing material
shall occur, he will send me tidings to Heidelbreg or to Read-
ing, which I shall take care to despatch to you. I find that
great care has been taken at Reading, to get the people to-
gether, and near two hundred were here yeste.ulay morning;
but upon hearing that the people attending me, were discharged,
the people from the country went off without consulting what
should be done for the future, through the indiscretion of a
person who was with them, and wanted to go home ; and near
the town they met a large company coming up, and gave such
accounts as occasioned their turning back. I think most of the
inhabitants would do their duty ; but without some military re*
gulations, we shall never be able to defend the province.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 47

I am sure we are in great danger, and by an enemy that can
travel as Indians, we may be surprised when it would be im-
possible to collect any number of men together to defend them-
selves, and then the country would be laid waste. I am quite
tired, and must say no more than that*

I am your Honor's

Most obedient servant,

Conrad Weiser.

Under date of October 31, 1755, the Secretary, states: *' An
Indian trader and two other men, in Tuscarora valley, were
killed by Indians, and their houses, &c,, burned ; on which most
of the settlers fled and abandoned their plantations. Nov. 2,
1755, the settlements in the Great Cove were attacked, their
houses burned, six persons murdered, and seventeen carried oif,
and the whole settlement broken up and destroyed."

From the following extract, taken from the Pennsylvania
Gazette, of Nov. 13, 1755, the names of the murdered and
missing at Great Cove, may be seen — Elizabeth Gallway,
Henry Gilson, Robert Peer, William Berryhill, and David
McClelland were murdered. The missing are John Martin's
wife and five children; William Gallway 's wife and two chil-
dren, and a young woman; Charles Stewart's wife and two
children; David McClelland's wife and two children. William
Fleming and wife were taken prisoners. Fleming's son, and
one Hicks, were killed and scalped."

The inhabitants of Berks county were kept in a state of con-
sternation from the time they had received intelligence of the
massacre of the people on Penn's creek ; and every day's news
added to their alarm, as may be seen from the following com-
munication sent to Governor Morris.

Reading, October 31, 1755, \

At 8 o'clock at night. )
May it please your Honor —

We have scarce strength left to write. We are forever em-
ployed, and without clerks. We have within one hour received
letters from Justice Forster, from Mr. James Galbreath, and
John Harris, by several messengers, with the accounts that the
people at Auckwick and Juniata are cut off, and among others
* Provincial Records, N. p. 249-251.

48 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

George Croghan. The date of Mr. Foster's letter is the 29th
inst,, Mr. Galbreath's the 30th ; but Harris's is, through con-
fusion, not dated.

We cannot find clerks ; we cannot write ourselves any thing
of considerable length. We must, therefore, depend upon it,
that we shall be credited without sending copies ; and originals
we must keep to convince the unhappily scrupulous of the truth
of our accounts.

We are all in an uproar — all in disorder — all willing to do,
and have little in our power. We have no authority — no com-
mission— no officers practiced in war, and without the comise-
ration of our Friends m Philadelphia, who think themselves
vastly safer than they are. If we are not immediately sup-
ported, we must not be sacrificed ; and therefore, are determined
to go down with all that will follow us to Philadelphia, and
quarter ourselves on its inhabitants, and w^ait our fate with
them.*

We are your Honor's most

Obedient, humble servants,
John Potts,
Conrad Weiser,
William Maugridge,
Jonas Seely,
James Reed.
P. S. Mr. Bird was obliged to go home, or would certainly
have signed this.

Towards the close of October, the enemy neared the borders
of Berks county. A letter from William Parsons to the Rev.
John Nicholas Kurtz, at Tulpehocken, shows this.

October Zlst, 1755.
To the Rev. Kurtz and all other Friends:

This morning, very early, between four and five o'clock,
Adam Rees, an inhabitant over the first mountain, about six
miles from Lawrance Hout's, who lives on this side of the
mountain, came to my house, and declared, that yesterday, be-
tween 11 and 12 o'clock, he heard three guns fired towards the
plantation of his neighbor, Hemy Hartman, which made him
suspect that something more than ordmary had happened there.
Whereupon he took his gun and went over to Hartman's house,
* Provincial Records, N. p. 257.

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 49

being about a quarter of a mile off, and found him lying dead
upon his face ; his head was scalped ; but saw no body else.
He thereupon made the best of his way through the woods to
the inhabitants on this side of the mountain, to inform them of
what had happened.

He further informs me, that he had been to Adam Reed's,
Esq., and related the whole of the affair to him, and that Reed
is raising men to go over the mountain in quest of the mur-
derers.*

I am your very

Humble servant and most

Hearty Friend,

Wm. Parsons.

Jlnother Letter from William Parsons to Mam Reed, Esq.

Stoney Kiln, JVovember 1, 1755.
Sir—

I wrote you yesterday, that I intended to be with you at
the unhappy place, where Henry Hartman was murdered ; but
when I got to the top of the mountain, I met some men, who
said they had seen two men lying dead ani I scalped, in the Sha-
mokin road, about two or three miles from the place where we
were; wherefore, we altered our course, being twenty-six in
number, and went to the place, and found the two men lying
dead, about three hundred yards from each other, and all the
skin scalped off their heads.

We got a grubbing hoe and a spade, and dug a grave as well
as we could, the ground being very stony, and buried them
both in one grave, without taking off' their clothes or examining
at all their wounds; only we saw that a bullet had gone
through the leg of one of them. I thought it best to bury
them, to prevent their bodies from being torn to pieces by wild
beasts. One of the men had a daughter with him that is yet
missing; and the other man had a wife, and three or four chil-
dren, that are also missing.

I shall be obliged to return home in a day or two, but hope
to see you sometime about Christmas, and to find my unhappy
countrymen somewhat relieved from this distressed condition.
•Provincial Records, N. p. 258.

5

50 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

I can't help thinking that it would be well for a good number
of the inhabitants to go next Monday, and help to bring the
poor peoples grain and corn to this side the mountain — it will
help to maintain them, which we must do, if they can't main-
tain themselves ; and tis very likely those barbarous Indians will
set fire to, and burn all, if it be not soon secured.*

I am, Sir, your very humble servant,

Wm. Parsons.

In another part of the Secretary's narrative, he states that,
"November 16th, 1755, a party of Indians crossed the Susque-
hannah, and fell upon the county of Berks, murdered thirteen
persons, and burnt a great number of houses, destroyed vast
quantities of cattle, grain and fodder, and laid waste a large
extent of country." — Provincial Records.

The following letters will afford the reader some idea of the
state of things in Berks at the time. The first is from Mr. E.
Biddle, to his father, then in Philadelphia.

Reading, JYovember 16, 1755.
My Dearest Father:

I'm in so much horror and confusion, I scarce know what
I'm writing. The drum is beating to arms — bells ringing — and
all the people under arms. Within these two hours, we have
had different, though too certain accounts, all corroborating
each other! — and this moment is an express arrived and de-
spatches news from Michael Reis's, at Tulpehocken, eighteen
miles above this town, who left about thirty of their people en-
gaged, with about an equal number of Indians, at said Reis's.
This night we expect an attack. Truly alarming is our situa-
tion. The people exclaim against the Quakers, and some are
scarce restrained from burning the houses of those few who are
in this town. Ohj my country ! my bleeding country I !

I recommend myself wholly to the divine God of armies.
Give my dutiful love to my dearest mother, and my best love to
brother Jemmy. I am, "honored sir,

Your affectionate and obedient son,

Edward Biddle.
P. S. Sunday, 10 o^clock. — I have rather lessened than ex-
aggerated our melancholy account.

•Provincial Records, N. p. 258.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 51

The following is from Peter Spycker, near the present Stouch-
town, to Conrad Weiser, then in Philadelphia, on public busi-
ness.

Tulpehocken, the 16 JYovember, 1755.

Conrad Weiser, Esq.

John Anspack and Frederick Reed came to me and told me
the miserable circumstances of the people murdered this side the
mountain. Yesterday the Indians attacked the Watch, killed
and wounded him, at Derrick Sixth, (Dietrich Six,) and in that
neighborhood, a great many in that night.

This morning the people went out to see, and about 10
o'clock came to Thomas Eower's house, finding a man dead —
killed with a gun shot. They soon heard a noise of firing
guns; running to that place, saw four Indians setting on chil-
dren scalping them — three of the children are dead, two are
still living, though scalped. Afterwards our people went to
the Watch-house of Derrick Sixth, where the Indians made
the first attack. They found six dead bodies; four of them
scalped ; about a mile on this side of the Watch-house, as they
came back, the Indians had set fire to a stable and barn ; burnt
the corn, cows and other creatures — here they found five In-
dians in a house eating their dinner and drinking rum which
had been in the house ; two of them were on the outside the
house. They fired upon them, but without doing execution.
The Indians have burnt the improvements on four other plan-
tations.

I have this account from those above named, and from
Peter Anspack, Jacob Caderman, Christopher Noacre, Leonard
Walborn, George Dollinger, and Adam Dieffenbach.

We are, at present, in imminent danger to lose our lives, or
estates; pray, therefore, for help, or else whole Tulpehocken
will be laid waste by the Indians, in a very short time — all the
buildings will be burned, the people scalped. Do, therefore,
lose no time to get us assistance. The Assembly may learn
from this work, what kind, and fine friends the Indians are ! !
We hope members of the Assembly will get their eyes opened,
and manifest tender hearts towards us; and the Governor the
same. They are, it is hoped, true subjects to our king George

52 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

II., of Great Britain, or are they willing to deliver us into the
hands of these cruel and merciless creatures?*

I am your friend,

Peter Spycker.
N. B. The people are fled to us from the HiJls; Peter Ky-
ser and John Wise are the last.

Since our last, says the Editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette,
Nov. 20, 1755, we have had several letters from Berks county,
advising us of a great deal of mischief done in Tulpehocken by
the Indians; yesterday a gentleman arrived express from that
county, who brought with him two scalps, one of a white per-
son, the other of an Indian — and the following deposition.

Berks county, Pennsylvania, ss.

Jacob Morgan, a captain in Col. Weiser's regiment, being
sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, doth depose
and say. That on Sunday, the 16th November inst., (1755,) at
about five o'clock, P. M., he, the deponent, Mr. Philip Wei-
ser and Mr. Peter Weiser, set out from Heidelberg towards
Dietrich Six's, to get intelligence of the mischief done at Tol-
heo, or thereabouts, and to get a number of men to join them
to go and seek for the persons who were scalped by the Indians;
and to help in the best manner they could, the poor distressed
inhabitants. That about nine miles from Mr. Weiser's, they
found a girl about six years old, scalped, but yet alive, and a
vast number of people there ; but he know^s not at whose house
it was, nor the name of the child. That at the request of the
people there, Mr. Weiser's son and deponent, went back to Mr.
Weiser's for powder and lead. That at or about 2 o'clock,
yesterday morning, they were alarmed at Mr. Weiser's with
an account that the Indians had beset Geoi-ge Dollinger's
house, and his family were fled ; whereupon Philip Weiser, and
the deponent, and a person w^hose name deponent does not
know, set off" immediately, and at Christopher Weiser's, over-
took a large company, consisting of about one hundred men,
and with them proceeeed to George Dollinger's and surrounded
his house, where they found a deal of damage done, and in the
garden, a child about eight years old, daughter of one Cola,
lying dead and scalped, which they buried.
^ * Provincial Records, N. p. 287.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 53

That the whole company went on to a plantation of Abra-
ham Sneider, and found in a corn-field the wife of Cola, and a
child about eight or nine years old, both dead and scalped, and
in the house they found another child of the said Cola's, about
ten years old, dead and sealpsd ; but the deponent knows not
of what sex, either of these two children was. That while
they were preparing the grave, they were alarmed by the firing;
of a gun, and flying to their arms, they went (a few staying to.
take care of the dead) to the place from whence the sound
came, and about half a mile from the place they came from,,
they met the company, one of whom had indiscreetly discharged
his musket, and then went back to bury the dead; in their re-
turn they found the scalp of a white person. That having
buried the woman and children, they went to Thomas Bower's
in whose house they found a dead man scalped, whose name,
the deponent thinks was Philip, by trade a shoemaker, but
knows no more of him.

That the company increased fast, and were now about one
hundred and thirty men, who marched on the Shamokin road
to near Dietrich Six's; about half a mile from whose house,
they found Casper Spring; dead and scalped, and having buried
him, they marched about one hundred rods and found one Bes-
linger dead and scalped^ — they buried him. That at the same
distance from Beslinger's they found an Indian man dead and
scalped, whicb Indian,, it was generally believed, was- a Dela-
ware. Mr. Frederick Weiser scalped him the day before.

That twenty of their body, who had gone a little out of the
road, about two miles from Dietrich Six's, found (as the depo-
nent and the rest of the company were informed, and as he be-
lieves without any doubt) a child of Jacob Wolf — he cannot
say whether a boy or a girl — which was scalped? Its age the
deponent does not know, but the father carried it in his arms to
be buried, as they were informed. That the deponent was in-
formed, by Mr. Frederick Weiser, that a company, with whom
he had been the day before, had buried John Leinberger and
Rudolph Candel, whom they found scalped.

That the deponent and company finding no more scalped or
wounded, they returned, being then by the continual arrival of
fresh persons, about three hundred men, to George Dollinger's..
That Casper Spring's brains were beat out; had two cuts in
his breast; was shot in the back, and otherwise cruelly used„
which regard to decency forbids mentioning; and that Beslhi-

5*

54 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ger's brains were beat out, his mouth much mangled, one of his
eyes cut out, and one of his ears gashed, and had two knives
lying on his breast. That the whole country thereabouts de-
sert their habitations, and send away all their household goods.
The horses and cattle are in the corn-fields, and every thing in
the utmost disorder, and the people quite despair. And further,
that he heard of much mischief done by burning houses and
barns; but not having been where it was reported to have been
done, he chooses not have any particulars thereof inserted in
this deposition.

James Morgan.
Sworn at Reading, the ISth of JVovemher, 1755, before us.

Jonas Seely,
Henry Harry,
James Read.
Besides the persons mentioned in the above deposition, one
Sebastian Brosius was murdered and scalped, whose scalp was
brought to Philadelphia at the beginning of this week, having
been taken from an Indian.

To Governor Morris, from Conrad Weiser.

Heidelberg, Berks County, )
JYovember 19, 1755. j
Honored Sir:

On my return from Philadelphia, I met, in the township of
Amiety, in Berks county, the first news of our cruel enemy
having invaded the county, this side of the Blue mountain, to
wdt: Bethel and Tulpehocken.

I left the papers as they were, in the messenger's hands, and
hastened to Reading, where the alarm and confusion weie very
great. I was obliged to stay that night and part of the next
day, to wit: the 17th inst., and sat out for Heidelberg, where
I arrived that evening. Soon after, my sons Philip and Frede-
rick arrived from the pursuit of the Indians, and gave the fol-
lowing relation, to wit: that on Saturday last, about 4 o'clock
in the afternoon, as some men from Tulpehocken were going to
Dietrich Six's places, at the foot of the hill, on the Shamokin
road, to be on the watch appointed then', they were fired upon
by the Indians; but none were hurt nor killed. Our people
were but six in number — the rest being behind — upon which
our people ran towards the Watch-house, which was about one

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 55

half mile off; the Indians pursued them, killed and scalped
several of them. A bold, stout Indian came up to one Chris*-
topher Ury, who turned about and shot the Indian right
through his breast. The Inchan dropped down dead, but was
dragged out of the way by his companions — he was found next
day, and scalped by our people.

The Indians divided themselves into two parties. Some
came this way, to meet the rest gomg to the Watch, and killed
some of them; so that six of our men were killed that day, and
a few were wounded. The night following, the enemy at-
tacked the house of Thomas Bower, on Swatara creek. They
came, in the dark night, to the house, and one of them put his
fire-arm through the window, and shot a shoemaker, who was
at work, dead on the spot. The people being extremely sur-
prised at this sudden attack, defended themselves by firing out
of the window^s, at the Indians. The fire alarmed a neighbor,
who came w^ith two or three men — they fired by the way and
made a great noise, and scared the Indians away from Bower's
house, after they had set fii-e to it; by Thomas Bower's dili-
gent exertions the fire was timely extinguished. Thomas
Bower, with his family, left tlie house that night, and went to
his neighbor's, David Sneider, who had come to assist him.

By eight of the clock, parties came up from Tulpehocken
and Heidelberg. The first party saw four Indians rumiing off.
They had some prisoners, whom they scalped immediately..
Three children lay scalped, yet aUve; one died since; the other
two are likely to do well.

Another party found a woman just expired, with a male child
lying at her side — both killed and scalped. The woman lay
upon her face ; my son Frederick turned her about to see who
she might have been — to his, and liis companions surprise., they
found a babe of about fourteen days, old, under her, wrapt in a
small cushion; his nose was quite flat, which w^as set right by
Frederick, and life was yet in it, and recovered again !

Our people came up with two parties of Indians that day,
but they hardly got sight of them. The Indians ran off imme-
diately. Either our people did not care to fight them if they
could avoid it, or, which is more hkely, the Indians were
alarmed first by the loud noise of our peoples coming, because
no order was observed.

Upon the whole there are about fifteen - of our people,' in-
cluding men, women, and children killed ; and the enemy is not

56 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

beaten, but scared off. Several houses and barns were burned.
I have no true account how many.

We are in a dismal situation — some of the murders were
committed in Tulpehocken township. The people abandon
their plantations to within six or seven miles from my house.
I am now busy to put things in order, to defend my house
against another attack.

Guns and ammunition are much wanted here: my sons have
been obliged to part with most of that which was sent up for
the use of the Indians. I pray your Honor, will be pleased, if
it is in your power to send us up a quantity, upon any condi-
tions. I must stand my ground, or my neighbors will all go
away, and leave their habitations to be destroyed by the enemy,
or our own people. This is enough of such melancholy ac-
counts for this time. I beg leave to conclude.
That I am, Sir, your

Very obedient,

Conrad Weiser.

P. S. I am creditably informed just now, that one Wolf, a
single man, killed an Indian, at the same time when Ury killed
the other; but the body has not been found as yet. The poor
young man since died of his wound in the abdomen.*

The savages now fully bent upon fell destruction, continued
their excursions, and wherever they went, the whites fell vic-
tims to their relentless cruelty.

"We hear from Reading, in Berks county, that on Sunday
last, about nine o'clock at night, the guard belonging to that
county, about seventeen miles from that town, were attacked by
some Indians, with whom they exchanged several fires, and put
them to flight ; that none of the guard were wounded ; though
one of them had the skirt of his jacket shot away, and that
they supposed some of the Indians were badly burnt, as they
heard a crying among them as they ran off; but that the
guard having spent their ammunition, could not pursue them."t

The Indians extended their excursions into Northampton,
when, on the 25th November, 1755, they destroyed a line
settlement of Moravians, called Gnaden-huetten, on the west
branch of the river Delaware, killed six of the inmates, burnt
down their dwelhngs, meeting houses, and all tlieir out-houses,

• Provincial Records, N, p. 342.

f Pennsylvania Gazette, Dec. 18, 1755.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 57

their grain, hay, horses, and upwards of fifty head of cattle
that were under cover.*

The Secretary in his narrative, continues — " During Decem-
ber, 1755, the Indians having been destroying all before them
in the county of Northampton, and have already burnt fifty
houses here, murdered above one hundred persons, and are still
continuing their ravages, murders, and devastations, and have
actually overrun and laid waste a great part of that county^
even as far as within twenty-five miles of Easton, is chief
town. And a large body of Indians under the direction of
French officers, have fixed their head quarters within the bor-
ders of that county, for the better security of their prisoners
and plunders."

"This," continues he, "is a brief account of the progress of
these savages, since the 18th of October, on which day was
committed the first inroad, ever made, by Indians, upon this
Province, since its first settlement ; and in consequence of all our
frontier country which extends from the river Potomack to the
river Delaware, not less than one hundred and fifty miles in
length, and between twenty and thirty in breadth, but not fully
settled, has been descried, the houses and improvements re-
duced to ashes, the cattle, horses, grain, goods and etfects of
the inhabitants, either destroyed, burnt or carried off by the In-
dians— whilst the poor planters, (farmers) with their wives,
children, and servants, who could get away, being without
arms, or any kind of defence, have been obliged, in this season
of the year, to abandon their habitations, naked and without
support, and thrown themselves upon the charity of the other
inhabitants within the interior parts of the province, upon
whom they are a very heavy burthen.

" Such shocking descriptions are given, by those who have
escaped, of the horrid cruelties, and indecencies committed by
the merciless savages, on the bodies of those unhappy wretches,,
who fell into their hands, especially the women, without regard,
to sex or age as far exceeds those related of the most abandoned
pirates! Which has occasioned a general consternation, and
has struck so great a panic and damp upon the spirits of the
people, that hitherto, they have not been able to make any con-
siderable resistance, or stand against the Indians."!

•Pennsylvania Gazette, Dec. 18, 1755.
•j-Provincial Records, N. p. 342.

58 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Ji Letter from Valentine Probst to Jacob Levan, Esq., of
Maxatany.

February 15, 1756.
Mr. Levan:

I cannot omit writing about the dreadful circumstances of
our township, Albany. The Indians came yesterday morning,
about eight o'clock, to Frederick Reichelderfer's house, as he
was feeding his horses, and two of the Indians ran upon him,
and followed him into a field ten or twelve perches off; but he
escaped and ran towards Jacob Gerhart's house, with a design
to fetch some arms. When he came near Gerhart's, he heard
a lamentable cry. Lord Jesus'. Lord Jesus! — which made him
run back toward his own house; but before he got quite home,
he saw his house and stables in flames; and heard the cattle
bellowing, and thereupon ran away again.

Two of his children were shot ; one of them was found dead
in his field, the other was found alive, and brought to Haken-
brook's house, but died three hours after. All his grain and
cattle are burnt up. At Jacob Gerhart's they have killed one
man, two women, and six children. Two children slipped
under the bed ; one of which was burned ; the other escaped,
and ran a mile to get to the people. We desire help, or we
must leave our homes.

Yours,

Valentine Probst. —

Mr. Levan immediately repaired to Albany township, but
before he reached the scene of horror, additional intelligence
was received by him, of other murders. In a letter from him
to James Read and Jonas Seely, of Reading, he says : " When
I had got ready to go with my neighbors from Maxatany, to
see what damage was done in Albany, three men, that had seen
the shocking affair, came and told me, that eleven were killed,
eight of them burnt, and the other th^ee found dead out of the
fire. An old man was scalped, the two others, little girls,
were not scalped."

From the above, as well as from the following, it will be
seen that the Indians were marauding in various parts of Berks,
and the upper part of Lancaster, now Lebanon county, in the
spring and summer of 1756.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 59

In March, 1756, the Indians laid the house and barn of
Barnabas Seitle in ashes, and the mill of Peter Conrad, and
killed Mrs. Neytong, the wife of Baltser Neytong, and took
his son, a lad of eight years old, captive. Next morning Sei-
tle's servant informed Capt. Morgan of the injury done by the
Indians, whereupon the Captain and seven men went in pursuit of
the enemy, but did not find any. On his return, he met a per-
son named David Howell, who told him that when on his way
to the watch-house, these Indians shot five times at him — the
last shot he received a bullet through his arm.

And on the 24th of March, the house of Peter Kluck, about
fourteen miles from Reading, was set on fire by the savages,
and the whole family killed — while the flames was still ascend-
ing, the Indians assaulted the house of one Linderman, in which
there were two men and a woman, all of whom ran up stairs,
where the woman was shot dead through the roof. The men
then ran out of the house to engage the Indians, when Linder-
man was shot in the neck, and the other through the jacket.
Upon this Linderman ran towards the Indians, two of whom
only were seen, and shot one of them in the back, when he fled
and he and his companion scalped him and brought away his
gun and knife.*

About two weeks before the assault upon the house of
Kluck, the Indians had committed depredations in another part
of the country. In a copy of a letter, dated March 8, 1756,
from Hanover township, Lancaster county, now within the
limits of Lebanon county, it is said, that the morning, before
(March 8,) Andrew Lycan, who lived over the mountain, was
attacked by the Indians. He had with him a son, John Lycan,
a negro man, and a boy and two of his neighbors, John Revolt
and Ludwig Shut. That Andrew Lycan and John Revolt
went out early that morning to fodder their creatures, when
two guns were fired at them, but did not hurt them: upon
which they ran into the house and prepared themselves for an
engagement. That then the Indians got under cover of a hog-
house near the dwelhng house, John Lycan, Revolt, and Shut,
crept out of the house, in order to get a shot at them; but
were fired at by the Indians, and all wounded, and Shut in the
abdomen. That Andrew Lycan saw one of the Indians over
the hoghouse, and got a little distance from it ; and also saw
two white men run out of the hoghouse and get a little distance
* C. Sauer's German Paper, March, 1756.

00 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

from it. That upon this, our people endeavored to escape ;
but were pursued by the Indians to the number of sixteen or
upwards, and John Lycan and Revolt being badly wounded,
were able to do nothing, and so went off with the negro, and
left Andrew Lycan, Shut and the boy, engaged with the In-
dians. That the enemy pursued so closely, that one of them
came up to the boy and was going to strike his tomahawk into
him, when Shut turned and shot him dead, and Lycan shot an-
other, and he is positive that he killed him — saw a third fall,
and thinks they wounded some more of them. That they being
now both ill wounded, and almost spent, they sat down on a
log to rest themselves, and the Indians stood a little way off
looking at them.

That one of the said Indians killed was Bill Davis, and two
others they knew to be Tom Hickman and Tom Hayes, all
Delawares, and well known in these parts. That all our men
got into Hanover township, and under the care of a doctor, and
are hkely to do well; but have lost all they are worth. And
that the people of that township were raising a number of men
to go after the enemy. The above people lived twenty-five
miles below Shamokin, at or near Wiskinisco creek.*

In another from Hereford township, Eerks county, dated
March 28, 1756, it is dated, That on the 22d of that month,
one John Kraushar, and his wife, and William Yeth, and his
boy, about twelve years old, went to their places to find their
cattle, and on their return, were fired upon by five Indians,
who had hid themselves about ten perches from the road, when
Yeth was mortally wounded in the back; Kraushar's wife was
found dead and scalped, and had three cuts in her right arm
with a tomahawk. Kraushar made his escape, and the boy
w^as carried off by the enemy. That on the 24th March, ten
wagons went up to JUleTnaengelj to bring down a family with
their effects; and as they were returning, about three miles
below George Zeisloff's, were fired upon by a number of In-
dians from both sides of the road ; upon which the wagoners
left their wagons and ran into the woods, and the horses fright-
ened at the firing and terrible yelling of the Indians, ran down
a hill and broke one of the wagons to pieces. That the enemy
killed George Zeisloff and his wife, a lad of twenty, a boy of
twelve, also a girl of fourteen years old, four of whom they

•Pennsylvania Gazette, March 18, 1756.
•j-Albany towDship.

fiilStOkY OF BERKS AND LEBANON C0U:NTIES. 61

JBcalped. That another girl was shot in the neck, and through
the mouth, and scalped, notwithstanding all which she got off,
and was alive, when the letter was written.

That a boy was stabbed in three places, but the w^ounds
were not thought to be mortal. That they killed two of the
horses, and five are missing, with which it is thought the In-
dians carried off the most valuable of the goods that were in
the wagon.*

At the same time, the Indians carried off a young lad, named
John Schoep, about nine years old, whom they took by night,
seven miles beyond the blue mountain ; where, according to the
statement of the lad, the Indians kindled a fire, tied him to a
tree, and took off his shoes and put moccasins on his feet —
that they prepared themselves some mush, but gave him none.
After supper they marched on further. The same Indians took
him and another lad between them, and went beyond the
second mountain; having gone six times through streams of
water, and ahvays carried him across. The second evening
they again struck up fire; took off his moccasins, and gave him
a blanket to cover himself; hut at midnight when all the Indians
were fixst asleep, he made his escape, and by daybreak had
travelled about six miles. He passed on that day, sometimes
wading streams neck-<^eep, in the direction of the blue moun-
tain— that night he stayed in the woods. The next day, ex-
hausted and hungry, he arrived, by noon, at Uly Meyer's plan-
tation, where Charles Folk's company lay, where they w^ished
him to remain till he had regained strength, when they would
have conducted him to his father. He was accordingly sent
home.f

In June, 1756, the Indians once more commit deliberate
murder, in Bethel township, Lancaster county, (now Lebanon.)
A letter dated Bethel township, June 9, makes mention that,
yesterday, the 8th inst., in the afternoon, between three and
four o'clock, four or five Indians made an incursion, at a place
called "The Hole," where the Great Swatara creek runs
through the blue mountain — they crept up unobserved behind
the fence of Felix Wuensch, shot him, as he was ploughing,
through the breast. He cried lamentably, and run, but the
Indians soon came up with him. He defended himself some-

* Pennsylvania Gazette, April 1, 1756.
f C. Sauer's German Paper, March, 1756.

6

62 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

time with his whip; they cut his hand and breast in a cruel
manner with their tomahawks, and scalped him. His wife
hearing his cries, and the report of two guns, ran out of
the house, but was soon taken by the enemy, who carried her
with one of her own and two of her sister's children, away with
them, after setting the house on fire. A servant boy who was
at some distance, seeing this, ran to their neighbor, George
Mies, and told him what had happened. Upon which Mies,
though he had a bad leg, with his son, ran directly after the In-
dians, and raised a great noise, which so frightened the Indians,
that they immediately took to their heels, and in their flight
left a tub of butter, and a side of bacon behind them. Mies then
went to the house, which was in flames, and threw down the
fences, in order to save the barn. They drank all the brandy
in the spring house, and took several gammons, a quantity of
meal, some loaves of bread, and a^reat many other things, with
them. Had Mr. Mies not been so courageous, they probably
would have attacked another house. They shot one of the
horses in the plough, and dropped a large French knife.*

From additional intelligence it appears, that immediately on
the above murder being perpetrated, twenty families went into
Smith's Fort — " which was but one mile and a quarter from
where Wuensch Hved," and that still more were expected to
go into the fort — and immediately a party was sent out after
the enemy, but to no purpose.!

The Editor of the Gazette, of June 24, says: We have ad-
vice from Fort Henry, in Berks county, (Bethel township,) that
two children of one Lawrence Dieppel, who lives about two
miles from said fort, are missing, and thought to be carried off
by the Indians, as one of their hats has been found, and several
Indian tracks seen. In relation to this statement, the Editor
says, in the first of July No. — We learn that one of Lawrence
Dieppel's children, mentioned in our last to be carried off, has
been found cruelly murdered and scalped, a boy about four
years old, and that the other, also a boy, eight years old, was
still missing.

Another onslaught upon the inhabitants of Swatara township
was ma ile by the Indians, in the latter part of June, 1756,

July 1, 1756.| We have advice that on Saturday last, nine

• Pennsylvania Gazette, June, 1755.

t Ibid., June 17, 1776. if Ibid.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 63

Indians came to " The Hole,'' in Swatara, and killed and scalped
four persons and shot two horses, and that a party of men
went in pursuit of them, but to no purpose.

In the early part of October, incursions were again made into
Hanover township, about three miles w^est of The Hole. The
following lelter from Adam Reed, Esq. to Edward Shippen,
Esq. and others, dated Hanover township, Oct. 14, 1756, de-
tails the shocking circmnstances :

"Friends and Fellow Subjects:

I send you in a few lines, the melancholy condition of the
frontiers of this county. Last Tuesday, the 12th inst.,tenlndians
came on Noah Frederick, while ploughing, killed and scalped
him, and carried away three of his children that were with him —
the eldest but nine years old — and plundered his house and car-
ried away every thing that suited their purpose; such as
clothes, bread, butter, a saddle, and a good rifle gim, &c. — it
being but two short miles from Captain Smith's fort, at Swa-
tara gap, and a little better than two miles from my house.

Last Saturday evening, an Indian came to the house of Phi-
lip Robeson, carrying a green bush before him — said Robeson's
son being on the corner of his Fort, watching others that were
dressing, flash by him — the Indian perceiving that he was ob-
served, fled ; the watchman fired, but missed him. This being
about three-fourths of a mile from Manady Fort; and yester-
day morning, two miles from Smith's Fort, at Swatara, in
Bethel township, as Jacob Farnwal was going from the house
of Jacob Meylen to his own, was fired upon by tw^o Indians,
and w^ounded, but escaped with his life; and a little after, in
said township, as Frederick Henly and Peter Sample were car-
rying away their goods in wagons, were met by a parcel of
Indians, and all killed, lying dead in one place, and one man at
a little distance. But what more has been done, has not
come to my ears — only that the Indians were continuing their
murders !]

The frontiers are employed in nothing but carrying off their
effects; so that some miles are now waste! We are willing,
but not able, without help — you are able, if you be willing, (that
is including the lower parts of the county) to give such assist-
ance as will enable us to recover our waste land. You may
depend upon it, that witho'it assistance, we, in a few days.

64 HISTORY Oy BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

will be on the wrong side of you ; for I am now on the frontier,
and I fear that by to-morrow night, I will be left some miles..

Gentlemen, consider what you will do, and donH he long
about it; and let not the world say,. that we died as fools died!
Our hands are not tied, but let us exert ourselves, and do some-
thing for the honor of our country, and the preservation of our
fellow subjects. I hope you will communicate our grievances
to the lower parts of our country ; for surely they will send us
help, if they understood our grievances.

I would have gone down myself, but dare not, my family
is in such danger. I expect an answer by the bearer, if pos-
sible.*

I am, gentlemen.

Your very humble servant,

Adam Reed.

P. S. Before sending this away, I would mention, I have
just received information, that there are seven killed and five
children scalped alive, but have not the account of their names.

In the month of January, 1844, the writer called on Mr.
Martin Meylin, grandson of Jacob Meyhn, mentioned m Mr.
Reed's letter, who stated, he heard it from his father and others,
that one Mr. Spitler, son-in-law to Jacob Meylin, was shot
dead on the spot while fixing up a pair of bars, and that Mrs.
Spitler escaped by taking refuge in the watch-house at her
father's, about two miles from Stumptown. And that at the
same tune several men, were riding towards Wilhamsburg,
(Jonestown,) were fired upon by the Indians, and two of them
were killed.

The reader will pardon a digression, to give place to the fol-
lowing communication, from Jacob V/eidle, Esq., with whom
the writer spent a night at his residence, January 27, 1844, in
Union township, Lebanon county.

Union Forge, February 13, 1844.

Dear Sir — The following facts I obtained from Mr. Daniel
Musser, who is nearly seventy. He suggests that there may
probably be an error to locate Fort Smith, where Union Forge
is. Mr. Musser's maternal grandfather, Peter Heydrich, who

* Provincial Records, P., p. 69.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 6S

emigrated from Germany and located, previous to 1738, about
three-fourths of a mile due north from this place, it appears,,
owned the place on which Fort Smith was erected. My infor-
mant says, he knows that a fort had been erected on his
grandfather's farm, to which, in great emergencies, the neigh-
bors fled for safety.

The persons whom Mr, Musser remembers of having heard
of, that resided in this township, as old settlers, were Mr.
Noacre or Noecker, who was shot dead in his field while
ploughing on the farm now owned by John Zehring. He says
that one Philip Maurer was shot dead while cradling oats on
the farm now occupied by John Gross. Martin Hess, who es-
caped unhurt, his house also had been a place of refuge — often
half a dozen of families would resort to Hess's house, which
was about one mile south-west from Peter Heydrich's, and a
half a mile west from this place. Mathias Boeshore (your
mother's relative) was also an old settler, who, on one occa-
sion retreated from the enemy, the Indians, towards Hess's.
Just as he had got inside the house, seized his gun, and turned
upon his pursuers, levelling his deadly weapon at them, and
while in the act of drawing the trigger, he received a shot from
an Indian, which wounded him but slightly. The bullet of
one savage's gun struck that part of Boeshore's rifle, to which
the flint is attached; the ball glancing a little to one side,
wounded him in the left side. Boeshore lived to be a very old
man. *

The land on which this fort was erected, is now owned by
widow Elizabeth Shucy. The old people are unanimous in lo-
cating the fort on Mrs. Shucy 's farm, at that time the pro-
perty of Peter Heydrich. None of them seems to know that
the house on Mr. Weidman's place here was ever used as a
fort. May it not, Uke the house of Mr. Hess, have been only
a kind of blockhouse; as the house of Hess, as well as the one
here, has also some apertures, or port holes, which were evi-
dently used to fire out upon the enemy?

Of Peter Heydrick, it is related, that on certain occasions,
the Indians appeared in great numbers — and nearly all the
neighbors being in their own houses — Heydrich gave immediate
notice to the people to resort to the fort, and in the mean time>,
(having both fife and drum in the fort, and could beat and fife

6*

66 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

well) took the drum and fife, marched himself into the woods
or thickets, now beating the drum, then blowing the fife;
then and again gave the word of command, loud and dis-
tinct, as if it had been given to a, large force — though he was
the only one to obey orders — by this Guerre de ruse, slight of
war, he managed to keep the savages away, and collect his
neighbors securely. IKoth hricht Eisen.

Yours,

Jacob Weidle.

Some time in the latter part of October, the Indians again
returned into Hanover township, where they murdered, under
circumstances of much cruelty, several families, among whom
was one Andrew Berryhill. On the 22d October, they killed
John Craig and his wife, scalped them both, burnt several
houses, and carried off a lad, about thirteen years old. The
next day they scalped a German, whose name has not been
given.*

Many of the settlers had fled, and not a few were killed.
The writer has examined the tax collector's duplicate of seve-
ral townships, for 1758, and found, from entries made in these,
by the collectors, that in East Hanover, Lancaster county, now
principally, if not wholly, within the limits of Lebanon county,
the following had fled.

Andrew Karsnits, John Gilliland, John McColloch, Walter
McFarland, •Robert Kirkwood, William Robison, Valentine
Stoffelbeim, Andrew Cleaman, Rudolph Fry, Peter Walmer,
John McCulloch, James Rafter, Moses Vance, John Brower,
Frederick Noah, Jacob Moser, Philip Mauerer, Barnhart Be-
shore, Jacob Beshore, Matthias Beshore, William McCullough,
Philip Calp, Casper Yost, Conrad Cleck, Christian Albert,
Daniel Moser,, John McClure, John Anderson, Thomas Shirley,
James Graham, Barnett McNett, Andrew Brown, Wm. Brown,
Andrew McMahon, Thomas Hume, Thomas Strean, John
Hume, Peter Wolf, Henry Kuntz, William Watson, John Stu-
art, John Porterfield, David Strean, John Strean, Andrew
McCrath, James McCurry, Conrad Rice, Alexander Swan,
John Grean.

Andrew Berrihill, (killed,) Samuel Ainsworth's son, (was.
* Pennsylvania Gazette, November 4, 1756.

HISTORY OF BERKS ANOS LEBANON COUNTIES. &7

taken,) John Kreag, (killed and boy taken captive.*) The
whole tax list contains some names less than one hundred.

The enemy, in the month of November, made great havoc,
in various parts of Berks. We have, says the Editor of the
Pennsylvania Gazette, advices from Fort Lebanon, in Berks
coimty, that on the 3d inst., (November, 1756,) a fire was seen
about seven miles from said fort, supposed to be at the house
of John Finsher; upon which a party was despatched, who on
coming to the place, found Finsher's house, barn, out-housesy
and a considerable quantity of corn, on fire; but saw no In-
dians, nor any body that belonged to the house.

They discovered a great many tracks, which they followed
till they came to the house of Philip Culmone, whose wife,
daughter, and one Martin Fell, liis son-in-law, were all killed
and scalped; and Fell's Y*'ife, with a child, about a year old,,
and a boy about seven years old, were missing. That they
then sent notice to the fort of what had happened ; when the
captain with some men went out, but could not find the enemy ;
however, they carried all their neighbors, women, and children,
into the fort, to the number of about sixty.

We hear also from the fort, near North, Kill, (creek,) in the
same county, that a cbild was carried off by a number of In-
dians the same day. That Lieut.. Humphreys, with a party,
went out in pursuit of them, and next morning came up with
them, at Nicholas Long's, whose house they had set on fire,
had killed two old men,t one of whom was scalped ; antl they
would have destroyed ten women and children, that had got
into the cellar. That they then engaged the Indians — twenty
in number — put them to flight; two of whom it was thought
were badly wounded.

They extinguished the fire at Long's, and got the women
and children, and carried them to the fort. Lieut. Hum-
phreys had one man wounded, and his own coat was shot
through in four pLices. They brought off a gun and a blanket.
The Indians had all red hats and red blankets. |

On the sixth of the same month, the wife and three children
of John Adam Burns, of Allemaengel (Albany) township, were

* See tax daplicate for 1755, Isaac Sharp, collector, in the commis-
sioner's^ office, Lancaster. — Compiler.
\ Old Mr. Zeuchmacher & Bernhart Motz. — Saua-'s Journal.
± Pennsylvariia Gazette, November 12, 1756.

68 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

carried off by the Indians. The youngest child was only four
weeks old.*

Letter from Col. Conrad Weiser, to Gov. Benny.

Heidelberg, in the County of Berks, )
JVovember 19, 1756. \

Honored Sir —

Last night about ten o'clock, I received the melancholy news,
that the enemy Indians had again made an incursion in Berks
county, killed and scalped two married women, and a lad four-
teen years of age, wounded two children of about four years
of age, and carried otf two more — one of the wounded is
scalped and is likely to die, and the other has two cuts on her
forehead, given by an Indian, who attempted to scalp her, but
did not succeed. There were eight men, of Fort Henry, posted
in different neighbor's houses, about one mile and a half off,
when they heard the noise of the guns firing, made immediately
towards it, but came too late.

The people are moving away, leaving their barns full of
grain behind them, and there is a lamentable cry among them.
It is, with submission, a very hard case, that so many men are
taken away to protect Shamokin, (all wilderness,) and the in-
habited parts to be without protection. I have ordered eigh-
teen men out of the town of Reading, to re-inforce Fort Henry
immediately, of which I hope your honor will approve.

Captain Busse will have reached Fort Augusta last Sunday
evening, according to what he wrote me, in his last letter, from
Fort Hunter, dated loth inst. He complains bitterly of the
poor condition- the detachment is in, for want of clothes. I
entreat your honor, that as soon as the companies of the First
Battalion receive their pay, (so that they can furnish them-
selves with necessaries against the winter,) Captain Eusse,
and the detachment under him, may be relieved before the win-
ter sets in.

I am very sorry that I cannot attend in Philadelphia, at
this time. I have now an intermittent fever upon me; thought
it, therefore, necessary, to send my son Samuel, in order to serve

* C. Sauer's German Paper, November, 1756.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 69

your honor, as an interpreter, at New Castle, or any other of
the Six Nations.*

I am, honored sir.

Your very obedient,

Conrad Weiser.

We have heard that a woman has been missed from Heidel-
berg tovi^nship, Berks county, for three vs^eeks past, supposed
to be carried off by the enemy .f

Extract of a letter, dated

Reading, December 23, 1756.

We have an account from Fort Babel;, that on Friday last, a
boy was killed and scalped ; and another who had the small
pox, was dangerously wounded by the Indians, within a mile
and a half of said fort. Lieut. Humphreys went out, but
could find nothing of the enemy. The wounded lad says, he
saw but two Indians, one was painted black, the other red ; they
cut him badly, but would not scalp him for fear of the infec-
tion, as is supposed. J

From Reading, Berks county, there is advice that a man
was lately killed by the Indians. A letter from Fort Leba-
non states, that sixteen Indians were seen near that place,§

In a letter from Hanover, Lancaster county, dated May 2d,
1757, it is said that on the night of the 29th ult., the house of
Isaac Snevely was set on fire, and entirely consumed, with eigh-
teen horses and cows.||

Since our last, we hear from Lancaster, that on the 17th
May, five men, and a woman, enciente, were killed and scalped
by the Indians, about thirty miles from Lancaster, and that the
bodies of the men and the women, had been brought down
there by some in the neighborhood where the murders were
committed. We are likewise informed that an express arrived
in Lancaster, on Saturday last, with an account of seven people
being killed in one house, the night before. And there are let-
ters in town, which advice of more murders being committed;
the number uncertain, but is thought there are above twenty

* Provincial Records, P., p. 69,

t Pennsylvania Gazette, Dec. 9, 1756. 4^ Ibid, January, 1757.

f Ibid, May 5, 1757, i Ibid, May 19, 1757.

70 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

destroyed, besides what may be carried off; and that the fron-
tier inhabitants are in great distress, and moving from their
plantations as fast as they can. The number of the Indians
that have done, and are doing the mischief, not known. These
late murders have been done in Bethel, Hanover, and Paxton
townships.*

Extract of a letter, dated

Reading, June 25, 1757.

Last night, Jacob Levan, Esq., of Maxatany, came to see
me, and showed me a letter of the 22d inst., from Lieutenant
Engle, dated in Allemangel, by which he advised Mr. Levan of
the murder of one Adam Trump, in Allemangel, by Indians,
that evening, and that they had taken Trump's wife and his
son, a lad nineteen years old, prist mers; but the woman es-
caped, though upon her flying, she was so closely pursued by one
of the Indians, (of which there were seven,) that he threw his
tomahawk at her, and cut her badly in the neck, but 'tis
hoped not dangerously. This murder happened in as great a
thunderstorm as has happened for twenty years past; which
extended itself over a great part of this and Northampton coun-
ties— for I found much mischief done, as I came from Easton,
Northampton county, to this town, the length of fifty-two miles —
the day before yesterday, and which I hear has broken down
the dams of seven forges, and six grist mills, on Maxatany
creek, chiefly in this county; the rest in Philadelphia county.

Mr. Levan told me that at the sami* time that the Indians
did the mischief in Allemangel, another party killed and scalped
a man near Fort Henry, in this county, and the next day car-
ried off a young woman from the same neighborhood. I am
told too — though I cannot tell what ci'edit is to be given to it —
that two persons were killed and scalped near the fort at
Northkill, in this county, Wednesday evening last, at the time
of the thunderstorm.

I had almost forgot to mention (but I am so huriied just
now, 'tis no wonder,) that the Indians, after scalping Adam
Trump, left a knife, and a halbert, or a spear, fixed to a pole
of four feet, in his body. James Read.

\^ * Pennsylvania Gazette, May 26, 1757.

f John S. Richards, Esq., of Reading, politely furnished a transcript of
this from among original letters in his possession. — Compiler.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 7l

We hear from Berks county, from a letter, dated at Tulpe-
liocken, July 4, 1754, that the Indians are murdering, about six
miles from my house,* says the writer — three women and four
children were murdered, and if we do not get assistance from
the country, all the inhabitants of Tulpehocken will move
away.f

The Rev. John Nicholas Kurtz, pastor of the Lutheran con-
gregation, at Tulpehocken, Lebanon county, in writing to Rev.
Henry Mechir Muhlenberg, pastor of the Lutheran church, at
New Providence, Montgomery county, under date of July 5,
1757, says:

" Diesen Morgen, wurden sieben ermordete und gescalpte,
nemlich drey Maenner und vier Kinder, zur Beerdigung auf
unsern Kirchhof gebracht, so gestern bey Somnen Untergang,
fuenf Meilen von hier von den Indianern umgebracht worden,
und alle in einem House !|

Extract of a letter, dated

Heidelberg, July 9, 1757.

Yesterday, about three of the clock, in the afternoon, be-
tween Valentino Herchelroad's, and Tobias Bickell's, four In-
dians killed two children; one about four years, the other five;
they at the same time scalped a young woman of about sixteen;
but, with proper care, she is likely to hve and do well.

A woman was terribly cut with the tomahawk, but not
scalped — her life is despaired of. Three children were carried
off prisoners. One Christian Schrenk's wife, being among the
rest, bravely defended herself and children, for a while ; wrest-
ing the gun out of the Indian's hands, who assaulted her, also
his tomahawk, and threw them away; and afterwards was
obliged to save her own life — two of her children were
taken captives in the mean time. In this house were also
twenty women and children, who had fled from their own habi-
tations, to take shelter; the men belonging to them were about
one half mile off, picking cherries — they came as quick as pos-
sible and went in pursuit of the Indians, but to no purpose, the
Indians had concealed themselves.] |

* Pennsylvania GazeUe, May 26, 1757.
■j- Reverend Kurtz.

i Pennsylvania Gazette, July 4, 1757.
§ Hallische Nachricten, fuer 1757.
II Pennsylvania Gazette, July, 1757.

72 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

We hear that in Bethel township, Lancaster county, (no^V
Lebanon,) one man was murdered last Saturday, a second one
wounded so badly that he died, and a third shot in the hand.*

We hear, says C. Sauers, from Linn township, (now Green-
wich,) Berks county, that, as Adam Klaus and his neighbors
were reaping rye, July 9th, they were surprised by a party of
Indians; two men, two women, and a young girl escaped.
Martin Yaeger, (Hunter,) and his wife, were killed and scalped.
John Kraushaar's wife and child, Abraham Seckler's wife and
one of Adam Clauss's children were scalped, and are still living,
though badly wounded; one of the women is wounded in the
side and the other in the hip. Two of Kraushaar's children
were killed; one of Seckler's and one of Philip Eschton's, but
were not scalped. The alarm being raised, a party Avent in
pursuit of them, and overtook nine, and fired upon them. But
they soon eluded the pursuit of the whites. f

Extract of a letter, dated

Hanover, Lancaster {iiow Lehanoii) county, ]
August 11, 1757. \

Last Thursday, John Andrew's wife, going to a neighbor's
house, was surprised by six Indians, had her horse shot under
her, and she and her child were carried off. On Saturday, in
Bethel township, as John Winkleblech's tw^o sons, and Joseph
Fischbach, (a soldier in the pay of the Province,) went out
about sunrise, to bring in the cows, they were fired upon by
about fifteen Indians; the two lads were killed; one of them
was scalped ; the other got into the house before he died, and
the soldier was wounded in the himd.

The same morning, about seven o'clock, two miles below
Manaday gap, as Thomas McQuire's son was bringing in some
cows out of a field, a little way from the house, he was pur-
sued by two Indians, and narrowly escaped. The same day,
in the middle of this township, four miles from the mountain, as
Leonard Long's son was ploughing, was killed and scalped;
on the other side of the fence, Leonard Miller's son was plough-
ing; he was made prisoner.

John Graham, who lives near the gap of the Indian town
creek, had a steer killed, about sunrise, or before, and John

* Pennsylvania Gazette, August II, 1757.
•j- C. Sauer's Journal, July, 1757.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 4 6

Brown had two cows killed ; all except the first mischief done
in one day; so that last Saturday there must have been, at
least, four parties of Indians in this township.

Having notice of this on Sunday morning, I set out with four
men, and we ranged till after midnight. Monday morning I
set out again, with forty men, intending to go over the moun-
tain. We ranged the first day in the forest, and had intended
to lie out on the mountain all night, but a heavy rain flailing,
we took to a house. On Tuesday morning we set out over the
mountain to find tracks, if possible; but we found not the least
appearance of any, or Indians, over the mountain, or in any of
the waste houses; so we returned on Tuesday night.

Monday, 8th. Many tracks were seen among the inhabitants,
and in the waste houses, where the Indians lodged. In one of
the houses they left a scalping knife, and had killed and scalped
a man. Wednesday, we intended to rest, but at about 12
o'clock had another alarm.
/ Near Benjamin Clarke's house, four miles from the mill, two
/ Indians surprised Isaac Williams' wife, and the widow Wil-
liams, alias Smelley, killed and scalped the former, in sight of
the house, she having run a little way, after three balls had
been shot through her body ; the latter they carried away cap-
tive^

About the same time, as George Maurer was cutting oats in
George Scheffer's field, he was killed and scalped, two miles
from the hill, so that it was not all done by one party.

There is now such a severe sickness in these parts — the like
has not been known — that many families can neither fight nor
run away, which occasions great distress on the frontiers. Had
it not been for forty men, which the province has in pay, in this
township, little of the harvest could have been saved, and as
the time for which they have been engaged is 2iearly elapsed,
the inhabitants hope the government will continue them in the
service, else the Consequences must be dreadful.*

We hear from a gentleman that six persons were taken away
by the Indians from Lancaster county, 17th August.f

SinCe our last, we learn from Lancaster, that there was no-
thing but murdering and capturing among them by the Indians.
That on the 17th August, one Beatly was killed in Paxton —
that the next day, James Mackey was murdered in Hanover,

* Pennsylvania Gazette, August, 1757. \ Ibid. Aug. 11.

7

74 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

and William and Joseph Barnet wounded. That on the same
day were taken prisoners, a son of James Mackey^ a son of
Joseph Barnet, Elizabeth Dickey and her child, and the wife
of Samuel Young and her child ; and that ninety-four men, wo-
men and children, were seen flying from their places, in one body,
and a great many more in smaller parties, so that it was feared
the settlements would be entirely forsaken.

We hear from Berks county, that several Indians have lately
been seen near Fort Lebanon ; and that on Sunday, the 21st
August, the house and barn of Peter Seraelcke were burnt, and
three of his children carried off; himself, wife and one child,
being from home at the time. This was done within two
miles of the fort.*

Our accounts, in general^ from the frontiers, are most dismal;
all agreeing that some of the inhabitants are killed or carried
off; houses burnt and cattle destroyed daily — and that at the
same time they are afflicted with severe sickness and die fast,
so, that in many places, they are neither able to defend them-
selves, when attacked, nor to run away.f

We hear from Lebanon township, Lancaster (now Lebanon)
county> that on last Friday, four children were carried off by
the Indians. From Reading, Berks county, that on Thursday
and Friday last, some people were murdered in Bern township,
by the Indians, and others carried off.

A letter from Hanover township, Lancaster county, dated
October 1st, 1757, says that the children mentioned of having
been carried off from Lebanon township, belonging to Peter
Wampler, that they were going to the meadow for a load of
hay; and that the Indians took from the house what they
thought most valuable, and destroyed what they could not take
away, to a considerable value.

In the same letter it is said, that the frontiers are almost
without inhabitants, and on that day, and on the day before,
several creatures were killed by the enemy in Hanover town-
ship, and that on Thursday before, four persons were killed in
Berks county, and four made prisoners, near the Northkill, by
a party of Indians, supposed to be about fifty. J

On the 25th of November, Thomas Robinson, and a son of
Thomas Bell, were killed and scalped by the Indians, in Hano-

, * Pennsylvania Gazette, September 1, 1757. f Ibid, September 8.
^Ibid, October 6 and 13.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 75

ver township ; but that the Indians immediately went off after
committing the murder.*

The condition of the frontier settlers or inhabitants was truly-
deplorable; not only were they surprised by the ferocious,
blood-thirsty savages, but sickness rendered their unenviable
condition still more dismal. They had not the means to en-
gage forces or scouters to apprize them of the Indians' inva-
sions, or prevent their incursions. In these deplorable circum-
stances they had to appeal to a deaf government, and to the
sympathies of their fellow citizens, for means.

The following is given to show the nature of their appeal to
their fellow brethren. It has been copied from a file of papers
in the possession of the Hon. John Ritter, of Reading. It is
from C. Sauer's German paper, printed at Germantown, in
July, 1757.

Die hintern Einwohner zu Dolpehocken bitten um eine Bey-
steurer, dass sie mehr Wacten bezahlen koennen zu ihre Sicher-
heit, weil die Festengen so weit aus einander liegen, und die
Voelcker drinnen wenig Dienste thun. Wer willen ist etwas
zu steuern, der kan es ablegen in Lancaster by Herrn Oterbein,
und Herrn Gerock, Lut. JPred.; in New Hanover und Provi-
dentz by Hr. Muehlenberg und Leydig; in Madetsche by Dr.
Abraham Wagner; in Goschenhoppen by Mr. Michel Reyer;
in Germantown by Christoph Sauer, sr.; und in Philadelphia
bey Hr. Handschuh,. und dabey schreiben, wie viel gegeben
worden; und diese koennen es uebersenden an Col. Conrad
Weiser, oder Peter Spycker, oder an Hr. Kurtz, wie es einem
jeden beliebt.

Diejenigen, welchi in Ruhe und Sicherheit ihre Erndte haben
koeimen schneiden und heinbri'ngen, haben Ursache Gott davor
zudanken.

Extract of a letter, dated

Tulpehocken, April S, 1758.
I and Mr. Kern have just arrived at Mr. Jacob Sherman's,
where we have been informed that a woman was killed and
scalped by the Indians last night, about three miles from here.
We are now ready to pursue them. The persons killed, be-
sides one taken captive, are two young men at Swatara —
• Pennsylvania Gazette, Sept. 8, 1757.

76 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

brothers, by the name of Shetterly — one Michael Sauter, and
William Hart, and a widow woman taken captive.

At Tulpehocken, a man by the name of Lebenguth and his
wife were killed and scalped. At Northkill, Nicholas Geiger's
wife and two of his children were killed ; and also Michael Dit-
zelar's wife was killed — these were all scalped. The Indians
have divided themselves into small parties, and surprise the set-
tlers miawares.*

On Monday, the 22d of May, 1758, Barnabas Tolon was
killed and scalped in Hanover township, Lancaster county.
And we are well informed that one hundred and twenty-three
persons have been murdered or carried off from that county, by
the Indians, since the war commenced; and that three have
been scalped and yet alive.f

A letter from Fort Henry, in Berks county, dated June 17,
1758, mentions the wife of John Frantz, and three children,
being carried off by the Indians ; and that the woman was
murdered a little way from Frantz's house, she being weakly
and not able to travel. Also, that the son of Jacob Snavely,,
a shoemaker, was killed and scalped about the same time.
From the tracks of the enemy, their number is supposed to be
about twenty. I

We have advice from Swatara township, Lancaster (now
Lebanon) county, that on Tuesday, the 20th inst., a Dutch-
man (German) was shot and scalped by the Indians; and the
next day one Samuel Robinson was shot, but got into a house —
he soon after died.

Extract of a letter, dated

Fort Henry, Berks county, October 4, 1758.

The first of October, the Indians burnt a house on Swatara,
killed one man, and three are missing. Two boys were found
tied to a tree and were released. We are alarmed in the fort
almost every night by a terrible barking of dogs ; there are cer-
tainly some Indians about us.§

• C. Sauer's German Paper, April, 1758.
■}■ Pennsylvania Gazette, Ja^. 1, 1756.
,■ + Ibid, Jan. 29. ^ ^ Ibid, Oct. 19, 1758.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 77

Reading, Mv. 15, 1758.
We learn that on the 13th inst., Jacob Mosser and Hans
Adam Mosser, were killed by the Indians, in Bethel township,
Lancaster county. There were some others in the company
who made their escape, and being pursued by the enemy, got
into the house, the door of which the Indians endeavored to
force open, when one of them was shot down, by a white boy,
«pon which the others wrapped him in a blanket and went off.

1763, September 9. — "A few of the Rangers who had en-
camped in Berks county, were apprized of the approach of
Indians by their outscouts; the Indians advanced cautiously to
take them by surprise; when near, with savage yells, they
rushed forward, but the Rangers, springing on their feet, shot
the three in front ; the rest fled into a thicket and escaped. The
Indians were armed with guns, and provided with ammunition.
These Indians, it is supposed by some, had been on their way
from the Moravian Indians, in Northampton county, to the big
island. Runners were sent to the different parties of Rangers,
with information, and others set out in pursuit of those who
fled.*

Letter from Jonas Seely, Esq., dated

Reading, Sept. 11, 1763.
We are all in a state of alarm. Indians have destroyed
dwellings, and murdered' with savage barbarity their helpless
inmates; even in the neighborhood of Reading. Where these
Indians came from, and where going, we know not. These are
dangerous times. Send us an armed force to aid our Rangers
of Berks and Lancaster.!

Jonas Seely.

Another letter, dated

Readiytg, Septemher 17, 1763.
It is a matter of wonder, that Indians livino- amoncr us, for
numbers of years, should suddenly become grum friends, or

• Pennsylvania Gazette, Oct. 19, 1758,

•j- Laid before the Assembly, Sept. 16, 1763. Votes of Assembly, .

78 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES*

most deadly enemies! Yet there is too much reason for sus-
picion. The Rangers sent in word, that these savages must
consist of fifty, who travel in companies from five to twenty,
Tisiting Wyalusing, Wichetunk, Nain, Big Island and Cones-
togue, under the mark of friendly Indians. Our people have
become almost infuriated to madness. These Indians were not
even suspected of treachery, such had been the general confi-
dence in their fidelity. The murders recently committed are
of the most aggravating description. Would it not be proper
to institute an inquiry mto the cause of our present distress?
We are in want offeree, and money; we require aid.

The Senecas, there is much reason to believe, have been
tampering with our Indians.

Jonas Seely.

To the Hon. Gov. James Hamilton.

In the early part of September, in the afternoon, eight well-
armed Indians came to the house of John Fincher, a Quaker,
residing north of the Elue mountain, in Berks county, about
twenty-four miles from Reading, and within three-quarters of a
mile of a party of six men of Captain Kern's company of Ran-
gers, commanded by ensign Scheffer. At the approach of the
Indians, John Fincher, his wife, two sons and daughter, im-
mediately went to the door and asked them to enter in and eat;
expressed their hopes that they came as friends, and entreated
them to spare their lives. The Indians were deaf to the en-
treaties of Fincher. Both parents and two sons were delibe-
rately murdered; their bodies were found on the spot. The
daughter was missing after the departure of the Indians, and it
was supposed from the cries, that were heard by the neighbors,
that she also was slain.

A young lad, who lived with Fincher, made his escape, and
notified ensign Scheffer, who instantly went in pursuit of these
heartless, cold-blooded assassins. He pursued them to the
house of one Millar, where he found four children murdered ;
the Indians having carried two others with them. Millar and
his wife being at work in the field, saved their lives by flight.
Mr. Millar himself, was pursued near one mile by an Indian,
who fired at him twice while in hot pursuit. Scheffer and his
party continued their pursuit and overtook the savages, firing
upon them. The Indians returned the fire, and a sharp, but-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. Vi*

short conflict ensued, — the enemy fled, leaving behind thera
Millar's two children, and part of the plunder they had taken.

Thjese barbarous Indians had scalped all the persons whom
they had murdered, except an infant, about two weeks old,
whose head they had dashed against the wall, where the brains
with clotted blood on the w^all was a witness of their cruelty.
The consequence of this massacre was the desertion of all the
settlements beyond the Blue momitain.

A few days after these atrocious murders, the house of
Frantz Hubler, in Bern township, eighteen miles from Read-
ing, was attacked by surprise — Hubler was wounded; his wife
and three of his children were carried ofl", and three other of
his children scalped alive; two of these shortly afterwards died.

"Murder and cruelty marked the path of these Indians.
From the many acts of savage ferocity committed in Berks
county, may be noticed that on the 10th of September, 1763,
when five of these Indians entered the house of Philip Martlofl,
at the base of the Blue mountain, murdered and scalped his
wife, two sons and two daughters, burnt the house and barn,
the stacks of hay and grain, and destroyed every thing of any
value. Martloff was absent from home, and one daughter es-
caped at the time of the murder, by running and secreting her-
self in a thicket. The father and daughter were left in abject
misery."*

* See Vctes of Assembly, vol. v. p 285. Oct. 21, 17G5.

CHAPTER lY.

THE SWEDES.

Some descendants of this hardy race, of whom it is said, that
when Penn arrived, "they had made great improvements — had
houses full of fine children ; are still found in the lower parts of
Berks county, and others in Alsace. Among their descendants
are those of the name of Jones, Kirlin, Umsted and others,
whose names are mentioned in speaking of Douglass, Amity
and Alsace townships.

One hundred and fifty years ago, the Swedes were a very
plain, remarkably strong, and exceedingly industrious people.
As it may prove interesting to the reader, a brief sketch from
the pen of an able writer is given, with some additional re-
marks, concerning this interesting people.

"Numbers of Swedes lived at Kensington and on Sunner's
creek, before the arrival of Penn. They had grants of land
from Alexander Henoyon, the governor of New York, as early
as 1664 — that is the date of the deed to old Peter Cock, for
Shackamaxon. On that creek, three-fourths of a mile from its
mouth, now so diminished, they once built large sloops, and af-
terwards a brig, at its mouth.

The Swedes dwelt in numbers on Tinicum, calling the place
New Gottenburg. At their church there, the first corpse ever
buried was Catharine, daughter of Andrew Hanson, October
24, 1646.

To the church upon Tinicum Island,, all the Swedes, settled
along the Delaware, used to go in their canoes from long dis-
tances. They did the same in visiting the primitive log church
at Wiccoco, — almost all their conveyances were preferred by
water. There was a stone upon Darby, to which they always
went by water, even when the land route was often nearest.

The old Swedish inhabitants were said to be very successful
in raising chick turkies; as soon as hatched, they plunged them
into cold water, and forced them to swallow a whole pepper
corn, — they then returned it to the mother, and it became as
hardy as a hpn's chick. When they found them drooping, their

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTI4S. 81

practice was to examine the run;p feathers, and such two or
three as were found filled with blood, were to be drawn out,
and the chick would revive and thrive.

"Kalm, the Swedish traveller, who was here among his
countrymen, in 1748, has left notices as follows, concerning
them: — The ancient Swedes used the sassafras for tea, and for
a dye. From the persimmon tree they made beer and brandy.
They called the mullen plant the Indian tobacco; they tied it
round their arms and feet, as a cure, when they had the ague.
They made their candles generally from the bayberry bushes;
the root they used to cure tooth ache ; from the bush they also
made an agreeable smelling soap. The magnolia tree they
made use of for various medicinal purposes.

" The houses of the first Swedish settlers were very indif-
ferent; consisting (>f but one room; the door was so low as to
require you to stoop. Instead of window panes of glass they
had little holes, before which a sliding board was put, or, on
other occasions, they had isinglass; the cracks between logs
were filled with clay ; the chimnies in a corner, were generally
of gray sandstone; or for want of it, sometimes mere clay; the
ovens were in the same room. They had separate stables for
the cattle; but after the English came and set the example,
they left their cattle to suffer in the open winter ai*r. The
Swedes wore vests and breeches of skin;: hats were not used,
but little caps with flaps before them. They made their own
leather and shoes, with soles like moccasins, of the same ma-
teriel as the tops. The women, too, wore jackets and petti-
coats of skins; their beds, excepting the sheets, were of skins
of bears, wolves, &c. Hemp, they had none; but they used
flax, for ropes and fishing tackle. This rude state of living
was, however, in the country places principally, and before the
English came.

" The Swedes seemed to have retained for a long time a
hereditary attachment to the skin garments; for within the me-
mory of some of their oldest, still living, some are remembered
who were seen wearing calf-skin vests and jackets, and buck-
skin breeches.

" Many Swedes settled along the western side of the Schuyl-
kill. Matthias Holstein, a primitive settler in Upper Merion,
took up one thousand acres there. Mauntz Rambo, an aged
3wede, aJiv^ about sixty-five years- ago, born near Swedes

82 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Ford, was a celebrated hunter in his day ; he killed numerous-
deer in his neighborhood in his time — once he shot a panther
which he found attempting to attack his dog. He remembered
many still among them, in his younger days.

"My friend," says Watson, "Major M. Holstein, fond of
his Swedish descent, tells rae, that when he first went to the
Swedes' church, in Merion, as a boy, all the men and women
came there on horseback, and all the women wore 'safe-guard
petticoats,' which they took off and hung along the fence.

" His grandmother, born at Malothan, four miles from Potts-
grove, remembered the Indians once about them, and that she,
herself, when young, had been carried some distance on a
squaw's back. They then did all their travelling by canoes, on
the Schuylkill. When married, she and her wedding friends
came down to Swedes Ford, in their canoes. In the same man-
ner they always made their visits to Philadelphia."

A settlement was commenced by the Swedes, at Moletton,
prior to 1700. At Douglasville, there is still standing a sub-
stantially built house, erected nearly one hundred and thirty
years ago, by a Mr. Johns or Jones. The orthography of
Swedish names, has been so much changed since their first im-
migration, that descendants from the same family can scarcely
be recognized. Jonasson, has been changed into Johnson;
Johns, now Jones; Hailing, into Huhngs or Hewlings; Von
Culen, into Culen; Mats, into Matthias; Bengt, into Bene-
dict; Olave, into William; Kohnig, into King; Longaker, into
Longenecker; Jocom, into Yocum; Omstadt, into Ulmstead or
Umsted ; Gostasson, into Justis.

The Swedish language is very little spoken among their de-
scendants. A specimen of it is given below, being the Lord's
Prayer in that language.

Fader waer som aest i Himmelen. Helgat warde titt Nampn.
Tillkomme titt Ricke. Skee tin Wilie sae pae Jordenne som i
Himmelen Waert, dagliga Broed gifF ofs i dagh. Och foerlaet
OSS waera skulder sae som ock wi foerloeten them oss skyldige
aero. Och in leed oss icke i frestelse. Ut an frals oss i frae
ondo, Tu Ruket aer titt, och Machten och Haerligheten i
Ewigheet. Amen.*

* Copied from the Siockkolm Edition of 1674.

CHAPTER V.

FRENCH PROTESTANT, OR HUGUENOTS.

A small body of these persecuted persons, settled at a com-
paratively early period, in Oley, Alsace, and other townships
of Berks county. It is supposed by some that they were termed
Huguenots, by way of reproach. Before giving an account of
those who settled in Berks county, a few remarks will be sub-
mitted as to the name by which the French Protestants are
now generally known.

Many and various are the sources to which the learned have
traced the etymology of '^ Huguenot ."

Some have asserted that the term was originally applie'd to
the members of the Reformed, by the dignitaries of the Catholic
Church, as one of reproach. To sustain this position, it is ar-
gued that when the new doctrine was first preached in Franc**,
a number of the inhabitants of the city of Tours — which after-
wards, and next to the city of Rochelle, ranked as the strong-
est hold of the Reformed party — embraced the same. Unlike
the Catholics, their worship w^as conducted in the evening as
well as in the day. Cultivating a spirit of genuine piety, they
met after night in each others hoilses, for social prayer. In
this, they imitated the example of primitive Christians, and like
them, they became the subjects of a persecution almost as re-
lentless. Going from house to house as the place of meeting
might chance to be, after the labors of the day were over, to
attend to this pious duty, and returning therefrom at a later
hour, their enemies, the papists, endeavored to prevent the ex-
tension of their doctrines, by reporting at first that they were
engaged in some foul conspiracy against the government, ami
afterwards against the people. Failing in their attempts to af-
fect them in this way, and finding that the fallow ground was
being broken up daily, with the promise of a rich return, and
that the seed of the true faith which was sown in confidence,
was germinating and yielding an abundant harvest, despite their
efforts, to the contrary, they next changed their mode of war-
fare, and endeavored to effect their object by bringing them
into ridicule and contempt. For this purpose, they seized upon

'S-i HIStORY OF ^ERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

the fact of their meeting after night, and connected with it a
story, then current, concerning the city of Tours. One 6l the
gates of the city, it seems, was called Hugo, and according to a
popular tradition from Hugo, comte Tours, who it seems, ac-
cording to the same tradition, was eminent in life only for his
crimes, oppression and cruelty. After his death — so runs the
the story — his spirit, incapable of repose, haunted immediately
after nightfall, the scene, which was the neighborhood of the
gate in question, cf its cruelty and crimes, when embodied in
the flesh. Many and strange pranks were played, and many a
hapless wight was bruised and beaten by this pugnacious spirit,
all of which added to horrible sounds and unearthly noises in
the immediate vicinity of its walks, so alarmed the inhabitants,
as to induce them to keep closely housed, whenever the hour
for its appearance drew near. Hence, Hugo and ghost came
to be synonymous; and as has been already shown, the social
worship of night meetings of the Reformers being so widely
different from the imposing ceremony of the Catholic church,
and requiring them consequently to be out more after night
than the latter, each individual of the former was called a
Hugo; the whole. Huguenot?. Thus much for this derivation,
and the tale that thereby hangs.

The next supposed derivation, is that it was a term volunta-
rily assumed by themselves, as a party name, when their reli-
gion was attacked, and they w^ere forced to take arms against
the government in self-defence. As they were rigid Calvinists,
of great sanctity of character and purity of morals, Caseneuve
has pretended to have discovered the original in the Flemish
word Heghenon or Huguenon, which means Cathari or Puri-
tan; but this is not very probable, inasmuch as it is not likely,
that having a wOrd in their own vocabulary, so expressive as
"Puritan," they would be disposed to borrow from a language
no more known than the Flemish.

Another author has attempted to trace its origin to Hugue-
note, a name given to an iron or earthen pot for cooking, by
connecting it with the persecutions to which the Reformed
were subjected in France ; and basing it upon the hypothesis,
that some of their number may have been roasted or tortured
and exposed to the flames like a vessel used for culinary pur-
poses.

These are all, however, but mere surmises, unsupported and

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 85

misustained by any thing at all calculated to give them a pro-
per title to serious consideration. The only etymology then,
which in our humble opinion remains, is undoubtedly the true
one — this we shall briefly attempt to prove by the history of
the times and the people.

Eidgenoss is a Geiman compound word, in the Saxon and
Dutch dialects, Eedgenotten ; of which the singular is Eidge-
noss^ or Eedgenot* It is formed from Eid, an oath, and Ge-
noss, a confederate or partaker of the oath ; and was the origi-
nal designation of the three Swiss patriots, William Tell,
Walter Fuerst, and Arnold of Melcthal,! on the night of the
7th November, 1807, met at Ruetli, on the lake of Luzerne,
and there bound themselves by a solemn oath, to shake off the
yoke of their Austrian oppressors, and to establish the liberties
of their coimtry. The conspiracy thus formed was embraced
with delight by all to whom it was communicated, each mem-
ber of which was called an Eidgenoss, and afterwards, Janu-
ary, A. D. 1308, when the people of the Waldstetter, com-
posed of the Cantons, Appenzell, Glaris and Uri, met in solemn
council, and took the oath of perpetual alliance, tiiey were de-
signated as the Eidgennossenschafi, i. e. Confederation. —
Through successive generations they were thus known, and
when in aftertimes, the people of Geneva, which had now been
included in the Swiss confederation, embraced the doctrines of
John Calvin; they threw off the allegiance of the Duke of
Savoy; and in order to maintain their independence, formed a
confederacy after the example of the Waldstetter, with the
Cantons of Bern and Freibourg, which was also confirmed by
an oath of all the contracting parties. Like the original pa-
triots, they in turn were called Eidgenossen. This movement
being half temporal, and half ecclesiastical or spiritual, related
to their freedom of government as men, and the rights of con-
science as Christians. Hence in its popular usage, this term
conveyed the primary idea of freemen, in contradistinction to
mamelukes, serfs, or slaves, by which name the party of the
Duke was better known; and also the secondary idea of a reli-
gious reformation in the mind of the adherents to the Catholic
faith. For the city of Geneva, having embraced the Reformed
doctrines, and immediately thereafter, thrown off the allegiance,
under the circumstances already given, the terra Eigenosscn
* Lewis Mayer, D. D. \ Davenport, article Fuerst.

8

86 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

fcecame identified among the papists, with the notion of releU
or apostates from the church, and was therefore consequently
used as a term of reproach.

From Geneva, where he had taught with so much success,
that instead of Zurich, it became the metropohs of the Reformed
Churches, Calvin, ardent in the discharge of what he conceived
lis duty, pushed his doctrines with eminent success into his na-
tive kingdom of France. They were readily embraced by the
learned and the pious, without regard to caste or standing in
society. The Admiral Caspar de Coligni, D'Andelot, Mornay,
Duplesis, La Renandie, the Prince de Gonde Ann Dubourg,
Theodore Beza, and a host of others equally worthy and emi-
nent for their virtues, were among the firmest supporters of the
Reformation, and the teacher of its doctrines^ Sustained by
such men against the power of the court; in the midst of pei-
secutions and civil wars — the professors of the Reformed reli-
gion were spoken of with respect; and although the term
Eidgenoss, or Eedgenot, was known in France at that time,
still no effort was made to bring them into disrepute by the
application of this, or any other term of ridicule, except when
they were occasionally called ^Hlie pretended reformed,'^ or,
^' seditionists," in the state papers. Thus they remained, until
on the accession of Frances II. to the throne, and his early mar-
riage with Mary, Queen of Scotland. Being very young in
years, and devotedly attached to his young Queen, he readily
transferred the care of his kingdom to his wife's uncles, the
Dukes of Guise and Loraine. This begat discontent among
the protestants, who only wanted a leader to organize them
into a formidable body. Calvin, like Thomas Cranmer, the
celebrated reformer, had taught that the king was supreme, and
acting upon this principle, the French Calvinists maintained that
the king being yet in his minority, was to be protested by his
subjects from the tyranny of his uncles ; to this end a plan was
concerted, known as the conspiracy of Amboise, for their over-
throw, of which the Prince de Conde, was unanimously chosen
leader; but without his knowledge, nor was he considered as
a participator, until the time of action arrived. John de Bari,
and the Sieur La Renandi, in the meantime were to direct all
their movements. In conformity with this plan they convened
a meeting of the protestant leaders at Nantes, in the darkness
of the night, in a ruined building on the outskirts of the town.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 87

Before they proceeded to develope their schemes, La Renandi
administered solemn oaths, that "nothing be done or attempted
against the King and Queen-mother, or princes, his brothers.'*
To this agreement they all swore; and after praying for suc-
cess, they parted with fraternal embraces, and in tears. The
time and place of carrying their plot into execution, was to be
at Blois, on the 15th of March, 1550. By some means the
plot was discovered to the Count, and therefore, the Duke of
Guise was appointed Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, with
supreme power in all cases, civil and military. Armed with
this authority he adopted the most energetic measures to sup-
press the protestants, and although he succeeded in defeating
and killing La Renandi and a few of his companions, yet the
effect was not produced which the Count anticipated ; but on
the contrary, the Reformed party increased in numbers, and
displayed additional zeal and activity in all their movements,
much to the annoyance of the Guises and their adherents."

It is only at this period of history in France then, that we
find the professors of the Reformed religion first designated by
the term Huguenots. They were identified in faith with the
Reformed of Geneva, and like them, upon the discovery of the
conspiracy referred to, were called Eidgenossen; that is, in the
Papist sense, rebels and apostates. From this, owing to their
ignorance of the orthography of the German word, and their
inability to pronounce it correctly ; but yet well knowing its
import, it is easy to conceive that Frenchmen would readily
corrupt it into Huguenot. The analogy is striking, the facts
undoubted, and the reasons given, to our mind, at least, satis-
factory.

With this brief enquiry into the origin of the term Eidgenos-
sen, i. e. Huguenot, we might rest, but as there are many de-
scendants of this brave, moral, religious and much persecuted
people, residing in Berks county, and in some instances still
living upon the farms originally patented by their refugee an-
cestors, we feel bound to say a word concerning them. After
the Huguenot colonies at New Rochelle, West Chester county,
Esopus, Ulster county. New York, had been formed, some of
their number at an early day, emigrated to this county and
commenced settlements. Of this number were the De Tircks
or De Turcks, and others, who had emigrated from Esopus, in
New York, to Oley township, prior to 1712.

88 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Abraham De Turck, of Oley township, in a note, dated'
March, 1844, says: Meine Voraeltern, Namens Isaac De
Turck wohnten in Frankreich, waren von den sogenannten Hu-
guenoten, fluechteten wegen Religion nach der Pfalz in die
Stadt Franckenthal ; von dorten wandente sie aus nach Ame-
rica, hessen sich nieder im Staat New York, in der Gegend
Esopus in der Zeit der Koenigen Anna; zogen von da nach
Oley zwischen 1704 und 1712. Das Patent von meinem land
ist 1712.

This soon opened the way for a direct emigration of their
persecuted brethren still remaining in France, and of others
who had sought protection of the protestant powers of Switzer-
land, Germany, Holland, and England. Among the most pro-
minent of these early Huguenot settlers in this county, we give
the names of several head of families, as follows: besides the
De Turcks, Bertolets, are Levans, Loras, Beseaurs, Sharodin,
Berdos, De La Plains, Delangs and others. (See Oley town-
ship.)

These pious, and persecuted men, with their fellow refugees
and families, passed "through much tribulation," until at length
they secured for themselves and posterity an asylum where
they could "worship God according to the dictates of their
own consciences." Although they succeeded far beyond their
most sanguine expectations, still they looked back with regret,
and in many instances with home-sick hearts, upon the vine-clad
hills and sunny fields of their own much loved France. They
were exiles from the land of their nativity; the broad billows of
the Atlantic rolled between them and the graves of their fathers.
Separated from friends and kindred, who in their turn were
driven to seek the protection of foreign potentates, or restrained
by the policy of the government, after the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, from emigrating, and forced into an abjuration
of their faith — how harassing must have been their feelings
and how sore their trials! But, "He who tempers the wind
to the shorn lamb," was still gracious unto them; he who had
protected and defended them from dangers, imminent and terri-
ble, was still " their strength and abiding place." Time blunted
the keenness of their sorrows, and as the forest began to bloom
beneath their labors, they sat down in contentment, and in daily
prayer returned thanksgiving unto Him, who is the Author o£
every good and perfect gift.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 89

Some of the Huguenots brought with them French Bibles.
Daniel Bartolet, a descendant of Jean Bartolet, who, with his
\nfe and five children, emigrated into Oley in 1726, has the very
Bible brought with the family. It is esteemed a precious relic.

The following, being the Lord's Prayer, has been copied from
one of these French Bibles. It is from the Maresior edition of
1669.

Nostre pere, qui es es cieux. Yon Nom soit sanctifie. Ton
regne vienne. Ta volonte soit faite ainsi en la terre comma au
ciel. Donne nous aujourd hui nostre pain quotidien. Et nous
quitte nos debtes, comme aussi nous quitons a nos detteurs les
heurs. Et ne nos indui point en tentation, mais delivre nos du
malin. Car a toi est le regne et la puissance et la gloire a
jamais. Amen.

CHAPTER VL

THE GERMANS,

The Germans, who first emigrated into the Province of
Pennsylvania, came chiefly for conscience's sake; those who
arrived at a later period, came to improve their temporal, as
well as their spiritual condition. Not many names of the first
German emigrants, except a few of the German Quakers who
came in with Penn, are preserved.

Among the very first, whose name has been handed down,
is that of Henry Fry, who arrived two years before William
Penn. His widow was still living in 1754.* One Plattenbach
came a few years later.f In 1682, a considerable number
came from Cresheim — these were principally Quakers. They
settled at Germantown. About the year 1684 or '85, a com-
pany was formed in Germany, called the "Frankfort Land
Company," consisting at first of ten gentlemen, living in Frank-
fort, on the Mayne; their articles were executed in that city
on the 24th of November, 1686. They seem to have been
men of note by the use of each of his separate seal. Their
names w^ere G. Van Mastrick, Thomas V. Wylick, .lohn Le
Bran, F. Dan. Pastorious, John J. Schuetz, Daniel Eehagel,
Jacobus Van Dewaller, John W. Peterson, Johannes Kimber,
Balthasur Jowest. They bought 25,000 acres of land from
Penn. The Germantown patent for 5350, and the- Manatau-
ney patent for 22,377 acres. T. D. Pastorious was api.ointed
the attorney for the company, and after his resignation, Dan.
Faulkner was in 1708 made attorney.

In 1708, 1709, ItflO to 1720, thousands of them emigrated
who were known as Palatines, because they had come from
tlie Palatinate, whither some had been forced to flee from their
homes in other parts of Europe. Many of these had gone first
to England on the invitation of Queen Anne, at whose bounty,
not a few were transported to America. Hundreds of them
were gratuitously furnished with rehgious and useful books, be-
fore their departure by the Read Anton Wilhelm Eoehm,
Courtchaplain, of St. James. The principal book was Arndt's
* Hal. Nach. t Ibid.

HISTORY OF BERKS ANI> LEBANON COUNTIES. 93

Wahres Christenthuraj Among these German emigrants were
Mennonites, Dunkards, German Reformed, and Lutherans.
Their number was so great, as to draw the remarks from
James Logan, secretary of the Province of Pennsylvania, in
1717 — "We have," said he, "of late, great number of Pala-
tines poured in upon us without any recommendation or notice,
which gives the country some uneasiness, £or foreigners do not
so well among us as our own English people!"'

In 1719, Jonathan Dickinson remarks, "We are daily ex-
pecting ships from London which bring over Palatines, in num-
ber about six or seven thousand. We had a parcel who came
out about five years ago, who purchased land about sixty miles
west of Philadelphia, and prove quiet and industrious. Some
few came from Ireland lately, and more are expected thence.*
This is besides our common supply from Wales and England.
Our friends do increase mightily, and a great people there is in
the wilderness, which is fast becoming a fruitful field."

From 1720 to 1725, the number of Germans from the Pala-
tinate, Wurtenberg, Darmstadt, &c., increased; these settled
principally in what is Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster
county. Those who came in between 1720 and 1725, were
accompanied by ministers of the gospel, and some schoolmas-
ters— among the German Reformed was Rev. Bochm, whohad
come in prior to 1720, and Rev. George Michael Weiss-, who
came subsequent to 1720. Among the Lutheran ministers were
the Rev. Falckner, Hinckel, and Stoever. Their schoolmas-
ters, for the want of a supply of ministers, read sermons and
prayers. Among the Dunkards were the Rev. Peter Becker,
and Alexander Mack, as ministers.

In the period between 1720 and 1725, a number of Ger-
mans emigrated from the State of New York, and settled at
Tulpehocken. Of these, a detailed account will be given when
speaking of Tulpehocken township.

From 1725 to 1740, there was another great influx of Ger-
mans of various religious opinions, German Reformed, Luthe-
rans, Catholics, Moravians, and Swenckfelders, arrived ; of the
latter, a particular account will be given when speaking of
Herford township. It appears from a letter written by James
Logan, in 1725, that many of the Germans were not overscru-
pulous in their compliance with the regulations of the Land
* These were the Mennonites in Pequea valley.

92 HISTORY OF BERKS. AND LEBANON COUNTIES.,

Office. He says, and perhaps with much truth, "they come
in, in crowds, and as bold, indigent strangers from Germany,
where many of them have been soldiers. All these go in the
best vacant tracts, and seize upon them as places of common
spoil. He says they rarely approach him on their arrival to
propose to purchase; and when they are sought out and chal-
lenged for their rights of occupancy, they allege it was pub-
lished in Europe that we wanted and solicited for colonists, and
had a superabundance of land, and, therefore, they had come
without the means to pay. The Germans in after time em-
broiled with the Indians at Tulpehocken, threatening a serious
affair. In general, those who sat down without titles acquired
enough in a few years, to buy them, and so generally they
were left unmolested.

The character then known to him, he states, are many of
them a surly people — divers of them Papists — the men well
armed, and, as a body, a warlike, morose race. In 1727, he
states that 6000 Germans more are expected, (and also many
from Ireland,) and these emigrations, he hopes, may be pre-
vented in future by act of parliament, else he fears those colo-
nies will, in time, be lost to the crown! — a future act.

" In 1729, he speaks of being glad to observe the influx of
strangers, as likely to attract the interference of parliament; for
truly, says he, they have danger to apprehend for a country
where not even a militia exists for government support. To
arrest in some degree their arrival, the Assembly assessed a tax
of twenty shillings a head on new arrived servants.

"In another letter, he says, the numbers from Germany at
this rate will soon produce a German colony here, and perhaps
such an one as Britain once received from Saxony in the fifth
century. He even states as among the apprehended schemes
of Sir William Keith, the former governor, that he, Harland
and Gould, have had sinister projects of forming an independ-
ent province in the west, to the westward of the Germans, to-
wards the Ohio — probably west of the mountains, and to be
supplied by his fiends among the Palatines and Irish, among
whom was his chief populai ity at that time.

From 1740 to 1752, emigrants came in by hundreds. In
the autumn of 1749, not less than twenty vessels, with Ger-
man passengers, to the number of twelve thousand, arrived at
Philadelphia. In 1750, 1751, and 1752, the number was not

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.. 9&

much less. Among those who emigrated in the years from
1740 to 1752, there were many who bitterly lamented that
they had forsaken their houses, for the Province of Pennsylva-
nia. At that time there was a class of Germans who had re-
sided some time in Pennsylvania, well known by the name of
.JVeulaender, who made it their business to go to Germany and
prevail on their countrymen to sacrifice their property, and
embark for America. In many instances persons in easy cir-
cumstances at home, with a view to better their condition, come
to America, but to their sorrow found that their condition was
rendered none the better, but in numerous instances worse, if
not wretched. Others again, who had not the means of paying
their passage across the Atlantic, were, on their arrival at Phi-
ladelphia, exposed at public auction to serve for a series of
years to pay their passage. Those, thus disposed of, were
termed Redemptioners. The Palatine Redemptions were usu-
ally sold at ten pounds, for from three to five years servitude.
Many of them, after serving out their time faithfully, became,
by frugality and industry, some of the most wealthy and influ-
OJitial citizens of the State. The years that were peculiarly
remarkable for the importation of Palatine Redemptions were
1728, '29, '37, '41, '50, and '51.

In 1751, the writer's paternal grandfather, (a native of
Zinsheim,) Jonas Rupp, arriv<d in the ship Phoenix, com-
manded by Captian Spurrier, September 25th. Out of four
hundred and twelve who embarked in the same vessel, only one
hundred and eighty survived to land at Philadelphia, and of
these, many died soon after their arrival.* Rupp and others
were exposed at auction, as Redemptioners. Leonard Umber-
ger, near Lebanon, bought him, with whom he served two
years and six months, on a farm, now owned by Mr. Lichty,
near Lebanon. At the expiration of his term he married the
step-daughter of Mr. Umberger, — a Miss Elizabeth Burst,
whose father had died in 1741, and her mother, Barbara Burst,
the widow of Michael Burst, deceased, had intermarried with
Leonard Umberger.

A few years after his marriage, he settled several miles south
of Millerstown. In 1771 he sold his tract of land to one Sieg,
and moved to Cumberland, and settled among the Irish, who
* Provincial Records, for 1751.

94 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES;

have since been nearly wholly supplanted by the Germans. . He
died at an advanced age in 1801.

"In later times, say about the year 1753 to 1756, the Ger-
mans having become numerous, and therefore powerful as maker
mights in the political balance, were much noticed in the publi-
cations of the day. They were at that period of time, in gene-
ral, very hearty co-operators with the Quakers or Friends, then
in considerable rule in the Assembly. A MSS. pamphlet in
the Franklin Library at Philadelphia, supposed to have been
written by Samuel Wharton, in 1755, shows his ideas of the
passing events, saying, that the party on the side of the Friends
derived much of their influence over the Germans, through the
aid of C. Sauers, who published a German paper in German-
town, from the time of 1729, and which, being much read by
that people, influenced them to the side of the Friends, and hos-
tile to the governor and council. Through this means, says
he, they have persuaded them that there was a design to en-
slave them; to enforce their young men, by a contemplated
militia law, to become soldiers, and to load them down with
taxes, &c., from such causes, he adds, have they come down in
shoals to vote, (of course, many from Berks,) and carrying all
before them. To this I may, says Watson, add, that I have
heard from the Norris family, that their ancestors in the As-
sembly were warmly pati'onized by the Germans in union with
Friends. His alarms at this German influence at the polls, and
his proposed remedies for the then dreaded evils, as they show
the prevalent feelings of his associates in politics, may serve to
amuse the present generation. He says the best effects of these
successes of the Germans will probably be felt through many
generations I Instead of a peaceable, industrious people as be-
fore, they are grown now insolent, sullen, and turbulent, — in
some counties threatening even the lives of all those who op-
pose their views, because they are taught to regard govern-
ment and slavery as one and the same thing. All who are not
of their party, they call " Governor's men,'' and themselves,
they deem strong enough to make the country their own ! In-
deed, they come in, in such force, say upwards of 5000 in the
last year, I see not but they may soon be able to give us law
and language too, or else, by joining the French, eject all the
English. That this may be the case, is too much to be feared,

mSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 95

for almost to a man they refused to bear arms in the time of
the late war, and they say, it is all one to them which king
gets the country, as their estates will be equally secure. In-
deed it is clear that the French have turned their hopes upon
this great body of Germans. They hope to allure them by
grants of Ohio lands. To this end, they send their Jesuitical
emissaries among them to persuade them over to the Popish
religion. In concert with this, the French for so many years
have encroached on our province, and now are so near their
scheme as to be within two days march of some of our back
settlements" — alluding, of course, to the state of the w^estern
wilds, overrun by French and Indians just before the arrival of
Braddock's forces in Virginia, in 1755.

" The writer (Wharton) imputes their WTong bias in general
to their "stubborn genius and ignorance," which he proposes
to soften by education — a scheme still suggested as necessary
to give the general mass of the inland country Germans right
views of public individual interests. To this end, he proposes
that faithful Protestant ministers and schoolmasters should be
supported among them. That their children should be taught
the English tongue; the government in the meantime should
suspend their right of voting for members of Assembly ; and to
incline them the sooner to become English in education and
feeling, we should compel them to make all bonds and other le-
gal writings in English, and no newspaper or almanac be cir-r
culated among them unless also accompanied by the English
thereof"

"Finally," the writer concludes, that "without some such
measure I see nothing to prevent this province from falling into
the hands of the French."

A scheme to educate the Germans, as the one alluded to,
was put on foot about the year 1755, and carried on for seve-
ral years. The details of this scheme are given at the close of
this chapter.

Nine-tenths of the first settlers of Berks coimty were Ger-
mans. They made settlements early, on the east side of the
Schuylkill on Mahanatawny creek, and in Oley township. Those
who had located themselves in the lower parts of the county,
were attacked by some Indians in 1728. In the Colonial Re-
cords it is said that at Mahanatawny Ironworks, a skirmish
occurred between the inhabitants of that region of country, and

96 History of Berks and Lebanon counties.

a party of foreign Indians. Intelligence thereof reaching Govv
'Gordon, he, and divers gentlemen, left there on Friday, the
iOth of May, 1728, for Mahanatawny. On his return to Phi*
ladelphia, he met the council. May 15th, "and acquainted the
board that he had just retured from Mahanatawny, where he
found the people in very great disorder, by the noise of the
skirmish that happened between some of our people and a small
party of Indians; that many of the back inhabitants had quitted
their houses, and seemed under great apprehensions of numbers
of Indians coming to attack them; that sevtral Palatine fami-
lies,* numbering some hundreds of persons, were gathered to-
gether at a mill near New Hanover township^ in order to defend
themselves, and that there he saw the man who was said to
have been killed by the Indians, but he appeared to be only
slightly wounded in the belly." The report had been, that the
Indians had fired upon some of our people, had wounded seve-
ral slightly, and one man mortally .f That having examined
several persons there and at Colebrookdale, touching the said
Indians, he understood that they were eleven in number
"painted for war, armed with pistols, guns, &c.,"J and had
been in that neighborhood for some days; that they w^ere all
armed, and had a Spanish Indian for their captain, and that
having been rude in several houses, where they forced the peo-
ple to supply them with victuals and drink ; some of our inha-
bitants, to the number of twenty, were armed with gun? ant!
swords, went in search of the Indians, and coming up with them
they sent two of their number to treat with the captain, who,
instead of receiving them civilly, brandished his sword and
commanded his men to fire, which they did, and wounded two
of ours, who, thereupon, returned their fire ; upon which they
saw the captain fall, but he afterwards got up and ran into the
woods after his party, having left his gun and watch coat be-
hind, and that since that time they had been seen no more."§

From subsequent communications from some of the chiefs, the
skirmish above alluded to, was between some Shawanese In-
dians on the one part, and the whites on the other. "|| You
have heard, said Gordon, to Sassoonan and others, at a coun-
cil held at Philadelphia, January 4, 1728, my brethren, that
some Shawanese, about twenty days ago, came from about Pe-

* Col. Rec. vol. 3, p. 330. f Ibid, 320. | Ibid, 330

^ Ibid, 321. !! Ibid, 333.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 97

choquealin, armed with guns, pistols and swords, and painted
for war; they fell in amongst some of our inhabitants, and be-
haved fooUshly ; our people thought they were strange Indians,
and believed there were much greater numbers behind in the
woods; they met together with arms to defend themselves,
&c."*

From a verbal message to the Governor from Kakow-watchy,
chief of the Shawanese, sent by Nichola? and Schonhoven, two
Indian traders from Pechoqueahin, near Durham Ironworks,
Berks county, it appears, that the Shawanese had heard that
the Flatliead Indians, were come into the Province with a de-
sign to make war upon the Indians here — Kakow-v/atchy had
sent eleven of his armed men to enquire into the truth of the
report, with orders to assist our Indians in case that the same
should be true — that their provisions failed them, and that they
were obliged to get provisions from the white inhabitants to
subsist upon; but that the Indians oiTered no rudeness till the
whites used them ill, and fired upon them.

Kakow-watchy expressed great sorrow for what had hap-
pened, and sent assurances, that he has a great love for all his
white brethren, but that one of their number is wounded, and
lost his gun, which he desired might be returned.

The above message was submitted by the Governor to the
Board, who returned Kakow-watchy a message, informing
him, that they considered the conduct of the eleven Indians
very imprudent; that they regretted the consequences which
resulted from this imprudence; warning them to be more cau-
tious hereafter in their future behaviour, and that the gun
spoken of should be enquired for.f

As early as 1723, a considerable settlement was made in
Tulpehocken, by Germans, who had emigrated from Nevr
York, on an invitation by Sir William Keith, when he was at
Albany. For a particular account of their emigration, the
reader is referred to the chapter, " Tulpehocken.^^

Many of the names of the first settlers at Tulpehocken, are
preserved in the Provincial Records. An extract from the
Records, bemg a petition from those Germans, contains some
-of the names.

* Col. Rec. vol, 3, p. 336. f Ibid, 327.

9

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

" To his Excellency, William Keith, Baronet Govermyr of
Pennsylvania, ^c, fyc, the Honorable Council.
" The petition of us, the subscribers, being thirty-three fami-
lies in number, at present inhabiting Tulpehocken creek,
"Humbly Sheweth,
" That your petitioners being natives of Germany, about fif-
teen years ago, were by the great goodness and royal bounty
of her late Majesty, Queen Anne, relieved from the hardships
which they then suffered in Europe, and were transported into
the colony of New York, where they settled.* But their fami-
lies increasing, being in that Government confined to the scanty
allowance of ten acres of land to each family, whereon they
could not well subsist. Your petitioners being informed of the
kind reception which their countrymen usually meet with in the
Province of Pennsylvania, and hoping they might, with what
substance they had, acquire larger settlements in that Pro-
vince, did last year, (in the spjing of 1723,) leave their settle-
ments in New York Government, and came with their families
into this province, where, upon their arrival, they applied them-
selves to His Excellency, the Governor, who, of his great good-
ness, permitted them to inhabit upon Tulpehaca creek, (being
the farthest inhabited part of the province northwest of Phila-
delphia,) on condition that they should make full satisfaction to
the proprietor or his agents, for such lands as should be allotted
them, when they were ready to receive the same. And now,
your petitioners, understanding that some gentlemen, agents of
the proprietor, have ample power to dispose of lands in this
province. And we, your petitioners, being willing and ready
to purchase, do humbly beseech your Excellency and Council
to recommend us to the favorable usage of the proprietor's
agents, that upon paying the usual prices for lands at such dis-
tance from Philadelphia, we may have sufficient rights and
titles made to us for such lands as we shall have occasion to
buy, that our children may have some settlement to depend on
hereafter, and that by your authority we may be freed from
the demands of the Indians of that part of the country, who

♦ Ten vessels or ships with about four thousand Palatines arrived at
New York, June 13, 1710. — Conrad Weisgr^s private German MSS. Journal.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 99

pretend a right thereto. And we humbly beg leave to inform
your Excellency and Council, that there are fifty families more
who, if they may be admitted upon the same conditions, are de-
sirous to come and settle with us. We hope for your faA^ora-
ble answer to this our humble request, and as in duty boimd
shall ever pray, &c.

Johannes Yans, Johannes Claes Shaver,

Peter Ritt, Jo. Hameler Ritt,

Conrad Schitz, Antonis Shart,

Paltus Unsf, Johan Peter Pacht,

Toritine Serbo, Jacham Michael Cricht,

Josap Sab, Sebastian Pisas,

Jorge Ritt, Andrew Falborn,

Godfreyt Filler.

117" The names to the petition being mostly in a deep Grer-
man hand, could not be read, but by one skilled in German
ritinp-: thev are e-iven as above.*

zua.li iianu, uuuiu iiut uc icau, uut

writing; they are given as above.*

The following is the scheme alluded to in a preceding page
for instructing the Germans:

" A brief history of the rise and progress of the charitable
society, carrying on by a society of noblemen and gentlemen
in London, for the relief and instruction of poor Germans and
their descendants, settled in Pennsylvania, &c., published for
the information of those whom it may concern, by James Ham-
ilton, William Alien, Richard Peters, Benjamin Franklin, and
Conrad Weiser, Esquires, and the Rev. William Smith, Trus-
tees Genera], appointed for the management of the said charita-
ble scheme.

For several years past, the small number of Reformed Pro-
testant ministers, settled among the German emigrants in Penn-
sylvania, and finding the harvest great, but the laborers few,
have been deeply affected with a true Christian concern, for
the welfare of their distressed countrymen, and the salvation of
their precious souls. In consequence of this, they have from
time to time, in the most solemn and moving manner, entreated
the churches of Holland, to commisserate their unhappy fellow
Christians, who mourn under the deepest affliction, being set-
tled in a remote corner of the world, where the light of the goS"
* Col. Rec, vol. 3, p. 341.

100 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

pel has but lately reached, and where they are very much des-
titute of the means of knowledge and salvation.

The churches of Holland, being accordingly moved with
friendly compassion, did, from time to time, contribute to the
support of religion in these remote parts. But in the year
1751, a very moving representation of their state having been
made by a person, whose unwearied labors for the benefit of
his dear countrymen have been for some years conspicuous, the
states of Holland aud West Frisland, granted 2000 gilders per
annum, for five years, from that time, to be applied towards the
instruction of the said Germans and their children, in Pennsyl-
vania. A considerable sum was also collected in the city of
Amsterdam, and elsewhere, and upon a motion made by the
same zealous person, the Rev. Mr. Thomson* was commis-
sioned by the Synod of Holland, and Classis of Amsterdam, to
solicit the friendly assistance of the churches of England and
Scotland.

When Mr. Thomson arrived in Great Britain, he found the
readiest encouragement among persons of the first rank, both in
church and State. In this peculiar glory of the British gov-
^ernment, equally to consult the happiness of all who live under
it, however remote, wherever born, or of whatsoever denomina-
tion. Wicked and inhuman tyrants, whose ambition is to rule
over slaves, find it their interest to keep the people ignorant.
But, in a virtuous and free government, like that of Great Bri-
tain, the case is far otherwise. By its very nature and spirit,
it desires every member of the community enlightened with
useful knowledge, and especially the knowledge of the blessed
gospel, which contains the best and most powerful motives for
making good subjects, as well as good men. Considered in
this light, Mr. Thomson's design could not fail to be encour-
aged in our mother country, since it was evidently calculated
to save a multitude of most industrious people from the gloom
of ignorance, and qualify them for the enjoyment of all those
privileges, to which it is now their good fortune to be ad-
mitted, in common with the happy subjects of a free Protestant
government.

Mr. Thomson having thus made his business known in Eng-
land, and prepared the way for encouragement there, he, in the

* Mr. T. is a minister of one of the English churches in Amsterdam, and
a member of said Synod and Classis.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES, 101

meajitime, went down to Scotland; and, himself being known
in that country, he represented the case to the General Assem-
bly of the church, then sitting at Edinburgh, upon which a
national collection was made, amounting to upwards of £1200
sterling. Such an instance of generosity is one out of mafiy,
to show how ready that church has always been to contribute
towards the advancement of Truth, Virtue, and Freedom.

Mr. Thomson, upon his return from Scotland, found that his
pastoral duty called him back to Holland. He saw likewise
that it would be absolutely necessary to have some person in
London, not only to manage the monies already collected, but
also to solicit and receive the contributions of the rich and the
benevolent in England, where nothing had yet been collected »
and where much might be hoped for. With this view, he
begged a certain number of noblemen* and gentlemen, of the
first rank, to take the management of the design upon them-
selves.

This proposal was readily agreed to by those noble and
worthy persons. They were truly concerned to find that there
were any of their fellow subjects, in any part of the British
dominions, not fully provided with the means cf knowledge and
salvation. They considered it a matter of the greatest import-
ance to the cause of Christianity in general, and the protestant
interest in particular, not to neglect such a vast bcdy of useful
people, situated in a dark and barren region, with almost none
to instruct them, or their helpless children, who are coming
forward in the world in multitudes, and exposed an easy prey
to the total ignorance of their savage neighbors on the one
hand, and the corruption of our Jesuitical enemies, on whom
they border, on the other hand ; and of whom there are always,
perhaps, too many mixed among them. Moved by these in-
teresting considerations, the said noblemen and gentlemen, with
a consideration peculiar to great and generous souls, did accord-

* The first members of this society were as follows, though we believe
several are added this winter, (1775,) whose names have not yet been trans-
mitted to ns.

The Right Hon. Earl of Shaftesbury, Earl of Morton, Earl of Finlater,
and Lord Willoughby, of Parham. Sir Luke Schaub, and Sir Joshua Van
Neck, J'aronets. Mr. Commission Vernon, Mr. Chitly, and Mr. Fluddyer.
Aldermen of London. John Fancc, Robert Furguson, and Nathaniel Paice,
Esqrs., of London. Rev. Benjamin Avory, L. L. D., Rev. Thomas Birch,
1). D., Rev. Mr. Casper Wetstein, Rev. Mr. David ThoiusoB, and Rev
Samuel Chandler, Secretary.

9*

102 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ingly take the good design into their immediate protection, and
formed themselves into a society for the effectual management
of it.

The first thing said society did, was to agree to a liberal
subscription among themselves; and, upon laying the case be-
fore the king. His Majesty, like a true father of his people,
granted .£1000 towards it. Her Royal Highness, the Princess
Dowager of Wales, granted .£100; and the honorable proprie-
tors of this province, willing to concur in every design for the
ease and welfare of their people, generously engaged to give a
considerable sum yearly for promoting the most essential part
of the undertaking. From such a fair beginning, and from
some hopes they reasonably entertain of a more public nature, the
honorable doubt not of their being able to complete such a fund
as may effectually answer their pious design, in time coming.
In the meantime they have come to the following general re-
solutions, with regard to the management of the whole.

I. To assist the people in the encouragement of pious and
industrious protestant ministers that are, or shall be regularly
ordained and settled among the said Germans, or their descen-
dants, in America ; beginning first in Pennsylvania, where the
want of ministers is greatest, and proceeding to the neighbor-
ing British colonies, as they shall be enabled by an increase of
their funds.

II. To establish some charitable schools for the pious educa-
tion of German youths of all denominations, as well as those
English youths who may reside among them. Now^ as a reli-
gious education of youth, while the tender mind is yet open to
every impression, is the most effectual means of making a peo-
ple wise, virtuous, and happy, the honorable society have de-
clared that they have this part of their design, in a particular
manner, at heart; it being chiefly from the care that shall ha
taken of the rising generation, that they expect the success of
their whole undertaking.

III. The said honorable society, considering that they reside
at too great a distance, either to know what ministers deserve
their encouragement, or what places are most convenient to fix
the schools in, — and as they would neither bestow their bounty
on any who cio not deserve it ; therefore they have devolved
the general execution of the whole upon us, under the name of
Trustee General, for the management of their charity among

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 103

the German emigrants in America. And as our residence is in
this province, where the chief body is settled, and where we
may acquaint them with the circumstances of the people, the
generous society hope that we cannot be imposed upon, or de-
ceived, in the direction or application of their excellent charity.

IV. And lastly, considering that our engagements in other
matters, would not permit us personally to consult with thc-
people in the country, nor to visit the schools as often as it
might be necessary for their success, the honorable society have,
out of their true fatherly care, appointed the Rev. Mr. Schlat-
ter, to act under our direction, as Visitor or Svpervisor of the
schools, knowing that he has already taken incredible paina
in this whole aflair, and being acquainted with the people in all
parts of the country, can converse with them on the spot, and
bring us the best advices from time to time, concerning the
measures fit to be taken.

This is a brief history of the rise and progress of this noble
charity, till it was committed to our management, under which
we hope it shall be so conducted, as fully to answer the expec-
tation of the worthy society, and give all reasonable satisfaction
to the parties for whose benefit it is intended. We shall spare
no pains to inform ourselves of the wants and circumstances of
the people; as will appear by the following plan which we
have concerted for the general examination of our trust, leaving
room to alter or amend it, as circumstances shall require, and
time discover defects in it.

With regard to that part of the society's design which pro-
poses the encouragement of pious protestant ministers, we shall
impartially proportion the monies set apart for this purpose ac-
cording to the instruction of the said society; as soon as such
ministers shall put it in our power so to do, by making tlieir
labors and circumstances known to us, either by their own per-
sonal application, or by means of Mr. Schlatter, or any other
creditable person.

As to the important article of establishing schools, the fol-
lowing general plan is proposed, which may be from time to
time, improved or perfected.

1st. It is intended that every school to be opened upon this
charity, shall be equally to the benefit of pn testant youth of
all denominations; and therefore the education will be in such
tbijigs as are generally useful to advance industry and true

104 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

godliness. The youth will be instructed in both the English
and German languages; likewise in writing, keeping of com-
mon accounts, singing of Psalms, and the true principles of the
holy protcstant religion, in the same manner as the fathers of
those Germans were instructed, at the schools in those coun-
tries from which they came. '

2dly. As it may be of great service to religion and industry,
to have some schools for girls, also, we shall use our endeavors
with the honorable society, to have some few school mistresses
encouraged, to teach reading, and the use of the needle. And
though this was no part of the original design, yet as the so-
ciety have nothing but the general good of all at heart, we
doubt not they w^ill extend their benefaction for this charitable
purpose also.

3dly. That all may be induced, in their early youth, to seek
the knowledge and love of God, in that manner which is most
agreeable to their own consciences, the children of all protes-
tant denominations, English and Dutch, (German) shall be in-
structed in catechism of sound doctrine, which is approved of
and used by their own parents and ministers. All unreasonable
sort of compulsion and partiality is directly opposite to the de-
sign and spirit of this charity, which is generously undertaken
to promote useful knowledge, true religion, public peace, and
Christian love, among all ranks and denominations.

4thly. For the use of the schools, the several catechisms that
are now taught among the Calvinists, Lutherans, and other
protestant denominations, will be printed in English and Dutch,
(German) and distributed among the poor, together with some
other good books, at the expense of the society.

Sthly. In order that all parents may be certain of having
justice done to their children, the immediate care and inspection
of every school will be committed to a certain number of sober
and respectable persons, living near the place where every such
school shall be fixed. These persons will be dencminattd Jis-
nstant or Deputy Trustees; and it will be their business,
iponthly or quarterly, to visit that particular school for which
they are appointed, and see that both master and scholars do
their duty. It will also be their business to send an account
of the state and progress of the schools, at every such visita-
tion, to us as Trustees General. These accounts we shall
transmit from Philadelphia to the society in London; and the

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 10'5

W)ciety will from time to time, be enabled, by these means, to
lay the state of the whole schools before the public ; and thus
charitable and well disposed people, both in Great Britain and
Holland, seeing the good use that has been made of their former
contributions, will be inclined to give still more and more for
so glorious and benevolent an undertaking.

This method cannot tail to be of great advantage to the
schools, since the Deputy Trustees, being part of the very peo-
ple for whom the work is undertaken, and having their own
children at the same schools, they must have an interest in the
reputation of them, and do all in their power to advance good
education in them. Besides this, being always near at hand,
they can advise and encourage the master, and help him over
any difficulties he may meet with.

But, 6thly. As the keeping tip a spirit of emulation among
the youth is the life of all schools, therefore, that we may leave
as little room as possible for that remissness, which sometimes
hurts charities of this nature, we shall, as far as our situation
will permit, have a personal regard to the execution of the
whole. As the Assistant Trustees may after want cur advice
in removing difficulties . and making new regulations, we shall
so contrive it, that Mr. Schlatter shall be present with them at
their quarterly meetings, to consult with them, and concert the
proper measures to be taken. Besides this, we shall have one
general visitation of the whole schools every year, at which
one or more of us shall endeavor to be present. On these oc-
casions, such regulations shall be made, as niay be wanted;
and careful inquiry will be made whether any parents think
themselves injured, by any unjust exclusion of their children
from an equal benefit of the common charity, or by the par-
tiality of the masters or otherwise. At such visitations, books
will be given as rewards and encouragement, to the diligent
and deserving scholars. The masters will likewise have pro-
per marks of esteem shown them in proportion to their fidelity
and industry in the discharge of their office.

7thly. With regard to the number of schools to be opened,,
that will depend partly on the encouragement given by
the people themselves, and partly on the increase of the so-
ciety's funds. A considerable number of places are proposed
to fix schools in ; but none are yet absolutely determined upoa.

106 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON rOUNTIES.

but New Hanover, New Providence, and Reading.* These
places were first fixed upon because the people of all persua-
sions, Lutherans, Calvinists, and other Protestants, moved with
a pious and fatherly concern for the illiterate state of their
helpless children, did, wuth true Christian harmony, present
their petitions, praying that their numerous children of all de-
nominations in these parts, might be made the common object
of the intended charity. And for this benevolent purpose, they
did further agree to offer school houses in which their children
might be instructed together, as dear fellow Christiars, redeemed
by the same common Lord and Saviour, and travelling to the
same heavenly country, through this valley of tears, notwith-
standing they may sometimes take roads a little different in
points of smaller moment.

This striking example of "imanimity and good agreement
among all denominations, we hope, will be imitated by those
who shall afterwards apply to us for fixing schools among
them; since it is only upon the aforesaid generous plan for the
common benefit of all, that we find ourselves empowered to in-
stitute such schools. But while the petitions are agreeable to
this, our plan, as now explained, they will not be overlooked,
as long as the funds continue. And if the petitioners shall re-
commend school masters, as was the case at New Hanover,
New Providence, and Reading, such school masters will have
the preference, provided they are men of sufficient probity and
knowledge, agreeable to all parties, and acquainted with both
the English and Dutch (German) languages, or willing to
learn either of these languages which they may not then be
perfectly acquainted with. .

These are essential qualifications; and unless the generous
society had made provision for teaching English as well as
Dutch, (German) it would not have answered their benevotent
design, which is to qualify the Germans for all the advantages
of native English subjects. But this could not have been done,

* Since the original publication, petitions have been sent to the Trustees
General, from TTpper Solfort, from Vincent township, in Chester county,
from the boroup;h of Lancaster, from Tulpehocken, and several other places,
all which will be considered as soon as possible. Feb. 25, 1755. — Penna.
Qazette.

Note. — Schools were also established in 175G, besides the places men-
tioned, at Lancaster, York, and several other places.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 107

without giving them an opportunity of learning English, by
speaking of which they may expect to rise to places of profit
and honor in the country. They will likewise be thereby cna-
bled to buy or sell to the greater advantage in our markets, to
understand their own causes in courts of justice, where plead-
ings are in EngUsh, to know what is doing in the country
around them, and, in a word, to judge and act entirely for
themselves without being obliged to take things upon the word
of others, whose interest it may be to deceive and mislead
them.

We have only further to add, that having thus published, in
our names, a true and faithful account of the rise and progress
of this excellent charity, down to the present time, we hope it
will candidly be received as such, and prevent many wrong
conjectures and insinuations, that might otherwise have been
made, if we had not given this genuine and necessary informa-
tion concerning it. From the foregoing plan it plainly appears,
that as the chief management is in the people themselves, it
must be entirely their own faults, if these schools do not become
the greatesjt blessing to many generations, that ever was pro-
posed in this country. Such, and so benevolent are the designs
of this new society !

And surely, now, we may be permitted in their name, to
address you, countrymen and fellow Christians, for whose bene-
fit the great work is undertaken! We cannot but entreat you
to consider, of what importance such a scheme must be to you,
and your children after you. We are unwilling to believe that
there are any persons, who do not heartily wish success to a
design so pious and benevolent. But, if, unhappily for them-
selves, there should be any such among us, we are bound in cha-
rity to suppose they have never yet reflected that, whilst they
indulge such wishes, they are in fact acting a part, plainly re-
pugnant to the interests of liberty, true religion, and even of
human nature.

Mankind in general are, perhaps, scarcely raised more, br
their nature, above the brutes, than a man well instructed above
the man of no knowledge or education; and whoever strives to
keep a people in ignorance, must certainly harbor notions or
designs that are unfavorable, either to their civil or religious
liberty. For whilst a people are incapable of knowing their
own interests, or judging for themselves, they cannot be gov-

108 HISTORY OF EERKS AND LEBANON COUKTIES,

erned by free principles, or by their own choice; and though
they shouki not be immediate slaves of the government under
wliich they live, yet they must be slaves or dupes to those
whose councils they are obliged to have recourse to, and follow
blindly on all occasions, which is the most dishonorable species
of slavery.

But on the other hand, a design for instructing a people, and
adorning the minds of their children with useful knowledge, can
carry nothing in it but what is friendly to liberty, and auspi-
cious to all the most sacred interests of mankind.

Were it otherwise, why are somany of the greatest and best
men, both of the British and the German nations, engaged in the
undertaking? Why have they, as it were, stooped from their
high spheres, and even condescended to beg from house to
house, in order to promote it! Is not all this done with the
o-lorious intention of relievinjc from distressful ignorance that
was like to foil upon you? Is it not done with a view to call
you up to all the advantages of free and enlightened subjects,
capable of thinking and acting for yourselves? And shall they
call you in vain? God forbid! If by any infatuation, you
should neglect the means of know^ledge and eternal happiness,
now offered you, think seriously what must be the consequence.
You will be accountable in the sight of Almighty God, not only
for your own sad negligence, but for all that misei'y and slavery,
which you may thereby entail upon your hapless offspring to
the latest generations. Your very names will be held in abhor-
rence by your own children, if, for the want of instruction, their
privileges should either be abiidged here, or they should fall a
prey to the error and slavery of our restless enemies.

But on the contrary, if proper instruction are begun now, and
constantly carried on among you, no design can ever be hatch-
ed against your religion or liberties, but what you shall quick-
ly be able to discover and defeat. All the arts of your enemies
will be of no avail to sever you from your true interests, as men
and as protestants. You shall know how to make the true use
of all your noble privileges, and instead of moving in a dry and
barren land, where no water is, you and your posterity shall
flourish from age to age, in all that is valuable in human life.
A barren region shall be turned into a fruitful country, and a
thirsty land into pools of water. The wilderness and solitary
place shall be glad through you, and the desert shall rejoice
and blossom as the rose. Isa. 35.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 109

That you may soon be placed in these happy circumstances,
shall be our continual endeavor, as it is our sincere prayer.
But if ever you hope to be so, or to transmit the glorious privi-
leges of Protestants and Freemen to your posterity, we must
observe, that in this time qf danger, (when a popish enemy has
advanced far into our country, even to your very doors,) it be-
comes you to be extremely jealous for your safety. It becomes
you to exert yourselves for the calm enjoyment of that reUgion,
for the sake of which you crossed the stormy occean, and en-
countered the horrors of the desert. It becomes you to secure
your children the full and free possession of these fair seats,
which your own hands have formed out of the vast wilderness.
Whatever unfavorable notions you may apprehend the govern-
ment at home may have fallen into concerning your conduct, on
account of the great distance "you may now be sure, that while
you do your duty as good suDJects, we shall at all times pre-
sent you in the most impartial light to the honorable society of
London; and as this Society consists of some of the best and
greatest men of the English nation, who have generously taken
you and all your concerns under their protection, they will al-
ways be glad to receive you in kind and acceptable terms, to
the continuance of our most gracious Sovereign,

By order, and in behalf the Trustees General.

William Smith, Secretary.

Philadelphia, Feb. 25, 1755.

10

CHAPTER VII.

THE WELSH.

In the very incipient stage of the first settlements made m
the Province, many Welshmen arrived in Pennsylvania. They
were of sterling worth and of a most excellent character. They
were, says a certain writer, of the last century, " A hardy, ac-
tive, hospitable and kind-hearted people — only a little hasty
and quarrelsome."

Among the most influential, at early day, was Thomas
Lloyd, one of Penn's Deputy Governors. He died in 1694,
aged fifty-four years. His father, says Proud, was a person of
fortune, rank and esteem ; of an ancient family and estate,
called Dolobran, in the North of Wales. Thomas Lloyd, the
late Deputy Governor, was educated in the best schools ; from
which he was removed to the University at Oxford ; where, it
is said he attained considerable proficiency ; and being endow'*
ed with good natural parts, and an amiable disposition of mind,
he attracted the regard and esteem of persons of rank and fig-
ure, and was afterwards in the way of considerable preferment
in the world ; but being of a sober and religious way of think-
ing, he joined with the Quakers, and renounced all worldly con-
siderations, for that peace of mind, and real mortal felicity,
which he believed to be the effect of true religion; and be-
come a highly esteemed preacher in that Society. In conse-
quence of which, having suffered much unmerited reproach,
persecution and loss of property, in his native country, he af-
terwards removed to Pennsylvania, among the first or early
settlers, and was one of William Penn's most intimate friends.
He was mostly one of the principal persons in the government,
from his first arrival, and of very great service in the pubhc af-
fairs."*

The Welsh had early purchased of William Penn, in England,
forty thousand acres of land, and settled on the west side of
the Schuylkill river. Only a few years elapsed when their
number weis considerably increased — it was sufficiently aug-

Proud's Pa. I, 398.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. Ill

naented, that they had settled, before the year 1692, not less
than six townships in Chester county.

The custom of the Welsh, and that of the Swiss and Pala-
tins, in settling parts of Pennsylvania, was similar. They
would either purchase extensive tracts in England, to settle
many of their friends in one body, as did the Menonites in Pe-
quea valley in 1709 and 1710 ; or like the Frankfort company
in 1686, or as they did, as just alluded to above; or they did
in some instances, send persons across the Atlantic, to take up
land for them, and make some preparation for the reception of
their friends and families.

Among the Welsh, who thus acted as pioneers, was the well
known Row^land Ellis, who sent over Thomas Owen and fami-
ly to commence a settlement. No sooner had O-u'en made im-
provement, in which he spent a few years, when Ellis and one
hundred other Welsh passengers left Wales, and embarked for
America in 1686.

In 1698 many other Welsh families arrived, among whom
were William Jones, Thomas Evans, Robert Evans, Owen
Evans, Cadwallader Evans, Hugh Griffith, Edward Foulke,
John Humphrey, Robert Jones, and others, who purchased ten
thousand acres of land from Robert Turner, in Guinedd town-
ship, Chester county.

Not many years afterward, the Welsh extended their settle-
ments into the present borders of Berks county ; principally in
the townships of Crernarvon, Brecknock, and Cumru. For the
names of the first settlers, the reader is referred to the descrip-
tion of the three named townships.

They had settled in the midst of the Indians. It appears
from the Colonial Records, and the public records at West
Chester, (hat in 1728, two brothers, Welshmen, cruelly mur-
dered some Indians on the frontiers. It is said, the brothers
appear to have been maddened with sheer fright, and killed the
first unoffending Indians they met.* The affray took place on
or near the Cacoosing, or Cucussea creek ; as appears from the
following extract:

In 1728, two individuals, named John and Walter Winters,

without any provocation given, cruelly murdered an Indian

man and two women, who were of the friendly natives. They

were, says Governor Gordon, most inhumanly knocked on the

* Watson.

112 HISTORY OF BERJCS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

head, by three or four of our people, and this without any pro-,
vocation from the sufferers, that I could possibly learn. The
Governor being at this time at Maxatany, immediately on hear-
ing the melancholy news, by an express from Samuel Nutt^
Esq., repaired to Cucussea, and on his arrival, caused a " Hue
and Cry" to be issued, for the apprehension of the perpetra-
tors; three of whom were taken, and committed to Chester jail,
and put in irons. The Governor likewii;e caused search to be
be made for the dead bodies ; the two murdered women were
found while he was there, who, by his order, were laid in a
grave, covered with shirts and strowds, and buried. On further
search the body of the Indian man was found and buried.*

Before the Governor left, he called in other friendly Indians,
who were not far from the neighborhood, to acquaint them ot
the unhappy accident — using his utmost endeavor to prevent
the worst impressions, or if such had already been made, to
remove them— inviting them to attend a treaty, then contem-
plated, to be held at Conestogue in the course of a few weeks.

The descendants of the first Welsh settlers in the county,
are numerous and respectable. Little or no Welsh is spoken
by them at present. A few printed specimens of the Welsh
language are presented; the first, the Lord's prayer, the se-
cond the one hundred and thirty-fourth Psalm. Copied from
a London edition of 1718, in the possession of George Ford,
Esq., Lancaster, Pa.

Ein Tad yr hwn yn y nefoedd, Sancteiddier dy Enw\ Deled
dy deyrnas. Gwncler dy ewyllys, megis yn y nei, felly ar y
ddaear hefyd. Dyro i ni heddyw ein bara beunyddiol. A
madden i ni ein dyledion, fel y maddeuwn ninnau i'n dyledwyr.
Ac nacarwain ni i brofedigaeth, eithr gwared ni rhagdrwg.
Canys eiddot ti yw 'r deyrnas, a'r nearth, a'r gogoniant, yn
oes oesoedd. Amen.

PSALM cxxxiv.

Wele holl weision Arglwydd nef,

bendi thiwch ef, lie 'r ydych
Yn feyfyll yn nhy Dduw y nos,

ai gyntedtl diddos trefn-wych.

*Col.Rec.,III, 320.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. IIS

Dyrchhefwch chwi eich dwylo glan

yn ei gysserg-lan annedd :
A bendithiwch a chalon rwydd,

yr Arglwydd yn gyfanneddw

Yr Arglwydd, a'i ddeheulaw gref

hwn a wnaeth Nef a daear,
A roddo ei fendito a'i ras,

i Scion ddijias howddgar.

10*

CHAPTER YIII.

THE IRISH.

The Irish emigrants, says Watson, did not begin to come to
Pennsylvania till about the year 1719. Those which did come
were generally from the north of Ireland. Such as come out
first, generally settled at, and near the disputed Maryland line.
James Logan, writing of them to the Proprietaries, in 1724,
says, they have generally taken up the southern lands, (mean-
ing in Lancaster, towards the Maryland line,) and as they
rarely approached him to propose to purchase, he calls them
bold and indigent strangers, saying as their excuse, when chal-
lenged for titles, that we had solicited for colonists, and they
had come accordingly. They were, however, understood to
be a tolerated class, exempt from rents by an ordinance of 1720,
in consideration of their being a frontier people, forming a kind
of cordon of defence, if needful. They were soon called bad
neighbors to the Indians, treating them disdainfully, and finally
were the same race who committed the outrages called Pax-
tang Massacre. The general ideas are found in the Logan
MSS. collection. Some of the data are as follows:

"In 1725, James Logan states, there that are so many as
one hundred thousand acres of land, possessed by persons, (in-
cluding Germans,) who resolutely set down and improved it
without any right to it, and he is much at a loss to determine
how to dispossess them.

" In 1729, he expresses himself glad to find that the Parlia-
ment is about to take measures to prevent the too free emigra-
tion to this country. In the meantime the Assembly had laid
a restraining tax of twenty shillings a head for every servant
arriving; but even this was evaded in the case of the arrival
of a ship from Dublin, with one hundred papists and convicts,
by landing them at Burhngton. It looks, says he, as if Ire-
land is to send all her inhabitants hither, for last week, not
less than six ships arrived, and every day two or three arrive
also. The common fear is, that if they continue to come.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. llij

they will make themselves proprietors of the province. It is
strange, says he, that they thus crowd where they are not
wanted. But besides convicts are imported thither,* The
Indians themselves are alarmed at the swarms of strangers,
and we are afraid of a breach between them — for the Irish are
very rough to them.

"In 1730, he writes and complains of the Scotch Irish, in
an audacious and disorderly manner, possessing themselves of
the whole of Conestoga manor, of fifteen thousand acres, being
the best land in the country. In doing this by force, they
alleged that it was against the laws of God and nature, that
so much land should be idle, while so many Christians wanted
it to labor on, and to raise their bread, &c. The Paxtang
boys were great sticklers for religion and scripture quotations
against "the heathen." They were, how'ever, dispossessed
by the Sheriff and his posse^ and their cabins, to the number of
thirty, were burnt. This necessary violence was, perhaps, re-
membered with indignation; for only twenty-five years after-
wards, the Paxtang; massacre began by killing the Christian
unoffending Indians found in Conestoga. The Irish were gene-
rally settled at Donegal."

But few Scotch Irish settled within the present hmits of
Berks county. A respectable number settled in East Hano-
ver township, Lancaster county, which is now partly included
within the bounds of Lebanon county. For the names of the
first Irish settlers, the reader is referred to the history of the
towhship in the western part of Lebanon county. The Irish
who settled here were Presbyterians.

There are still some of the descendants of this "generous,
quick-witted, hospitable, and cheerful people," occupying the
farms first owned by their ancesto)-s. The Irish language
which many of the first settlers spoke, is no longer spoken.
To give the reader a specimen of the printed language of the
sons of Erin, the writer has copied the Lord's prayer from
Gr. Daniel's edition of an Irish Bible, printed in 1602.

Air nathir ataigh air nin. Nabz fat hanimti. Tigiuh

* Augustus Gun, of Cork, advertised in the Philadelphia papers, that
he had powers from the Mayor of Cork, for many years, to procure servants,
for America.

116 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANO.V COUNTIES.

da riathiate. Deantur da hoilamhuoil Air nimh agis air
thalarabi. Air naran laidthuil tabhair dhuiii a niomb. Agis
math duin dairf, hiacha ammnil Agis mathum vid dar feu-
thiinuiin. Ajjis na trilaic astoch sin anau sen. Ac sar sine
ole. Amen.

CHAPTER IX.

ERECTION OF BERKS COUNTY.

The lands on the Tulpehocken were still owned by the In-
dians till 1732-'33, when Thomas Penn purchased them, which
more effectually opened the door to emigrants into that part of
the province within the limits of Berks and Lebanon. Ger-
mans and others, especially the former, who were already seated,
sent for their relatives and kindred; and they in turn, on their
arrival here, enticed others — till several thousand had settled in
various parts on the Schuylkill, TuljDehocken, and other places —
till every glen, vale, hill, and mountain, was more or less set-
tled— and under such circumstances the inhabitants felt the
want of a new county, and were led to petition the Assembly
for privileges which Penn and successors had awarded. For,
William Penn, shortly after his arrival, in 1682, established
several counties, namely, Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester.
Philadelphia county then extended indefinitely towards the
northwest, bounded on the east by Bucks, and on the west by
the Schuylkill, which separated it from Chester county, which
included, at that time, Delaware county, and all the territory,
except a small portion now within the limits of Philadelphia
county, south-west of the Schuylkill, and extended to the ex-
treme limits of the province, north, west, and south. In 1729,
Chester was reduced, by erecting Lancaster county out of it.
In 1749, York county was erected, and in 1750, Cumberland
was established. Berks was erected, March 11th, 1752.

At the time of erecting Berks county, its population was
from six to eight thousand. As it may be interesting to the
reader, a copy of the petition to the Assembly, and sundry
papers, have been copied, and are inserted.

A petition from a considerably number of the inhabitants of
Readingtown, upon Schuylkill, was presented to the house,
February 4th, 1752, and read, setting forth, that they had
settled in the said town, expecting that it would be a great
place of trade and business, and had put themselves to vast "ex-
pense in building and removing thither with their families.

118 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

several of whom left tolerable good plantations; that thouglj
the said town had not above one house in it about two years
ago, (1750,) yet it now consists of one hundred and thirty
dwelling houses, besides forty-one stables, and other out-houses,
and that there are one hundred and sixty families, consisting
of three hundred and seventy-eight persons settled therein; that
they have good reason to believe that in another summer they
will be much increased, as the chief Bart of the province that
can be settled is already taken up, and the settling of the
town will be of great benefit to tradesmen and others, who are
not able to purchase tracts of land to live on; that they hum-
bly conceived it to be their interest, to the honorable proprie-
taries, as well as themselves, and that unless this house will be
pleased to erect part of the counties of Philadelphia, Chester,
and Lancaster, into a separate county, they shall be entirely
disappointed of their expectations, notwithstanding all the cost
and trouble they have been at; that, therefore, they pray this
house would take their case into consideration, and grant them
relief, by erecting such parts of said counties, as they shall
think most proper, into a new county, with the same privileges
that the other counties of this province enjoy; and that the
seat of judicature be fixed within the said town of Reading.*

Another petition was presented, February 5, 1752, from
which the following extract is presented: "They find the
causes of their complaint still growing, they humbly beg leave
further to represent, that they are settled at a very great dis-
tance from the place of judicature, many of them not less than
one hundred miles, which is a real hardship upon those who are
so unhappy as to be sued for debts, their charges in long jour-
neys, and sometimes in severe weather, with the oflficer's fees,
amounting to near as much, if not more, than the debts; that
the hardships on jurymen, constables, and in being obliged to
attend when required, is also very great; that now there is a
new town laid out by the proprietaries' order, wdthin fifteen
perches of the division line between Philadelphia and Lancas-
ter counties, and above one hundred and thirty houses, and near
as many families living therein, it is very easy for rogues and
others to escape justice by crossing Schuylkill, which has al-
ready been their practice for some years; that though their
* Votes of Assembly, vol. iv., p. 204.

niSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANOif COUNTIES. llO

grievances were laid before the Assembly some years past,*
were not redressed, because of other weighty affairs being at
that time under consideration ; yet the prayer of their petition
was thought reasonable, and the number of petitioners being
since doubled by the increase of the back inhabitants, they there-
fore pray, that this house would grant relief in the premises by
erecting them into a separate county, bounded, as to the wis-
dom of this house shall seem best.f

The prayer of the petitioners was granted by the. passing of
act, March 11th, 1752, J directing the erection of a county out-
of parts of Philadelphia,'^ Chester,|| and Lancaster counties.il

" Whereas a great number of the back inhabitants of the
county of Philadelphia, and the adjacent parts of Chester and
Lancaster, by their petition, have humbly represented to the
Governor and Assembly of this province, their remote situation
from their respective county towns, where the courts of justice
are held, and public offices kept, whereby they are frequently
put to extraordinary expense of money, and loss of time, in
their long journies thither, as parties in cases, witnesses, jury-
men, &c. For remedying which inconveniences, and relief of
the inhabitants in those remote parts in the premises, be it
enacted by the Hon. James Hamilton, Esq., Lieutenant Gov-
ernor, under the Hon. Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, true
and absolute proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, and
of the counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Dela-
ware, by and with the advice and consent of the representatives
of the freemen of the said province, in general assembly met,
and by the authority of the same — That all and singular the
lands lying within the province of Pennsylvania aforesaid, with-
in the limtis and bounds as hereinafter described, be erected into
a county, and the same are hereby erected into a county, named,
and henceforth to be called Berks ; bounded as follows : by a
line, at the distance of ten superficial miles south-west from

* 17.39-'40. Feb. 4, a petition signed by Conrad Weiser, John Davi)«,
James Lewis, and others, was presented.

t Votes of Assembly, vol. 4, p. 205.

t A, vol. iii., p. 227 of the Rolls at Harrisburg.

§ Alsace, Exeter, Amity, AUimengle or Albany, Oley, Colebrookdale,
and Hereford townships, then organized, were parts of Philadelphia county.

U Coventry and part of Nantmill, now Union, part of Chester county.

^ Caernarvon, Robeson, Heidelberg, Bethel, Tulpehocken, Cumru, and
Bern, then organized part of Lancaster county.

120 ttiStORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES;

the western bank of the river Schuylkill, opposite to the mouth
of a creek called Monocasy* to the run north north-west to
the extremity of the province, and south-east, until it shall in-
tersect the line of Chester county, then on one straight line of
McCall's manor, then along the said line to the extremity
thereof, and continuing the same course, to the line dividing
Philadelphia and Bucks counties, then along the said line north-
west, to the extent of the county aforesaid.

That it shall and may be lawful to and for Anthony Lee,
Francis Parvin, William Mangridge, William Bird and Joseph
Millard, or any three of them to purchase and take assurance to
them and their heirs, of a piece of land, situate in some conve-
nient place in the town of Reading, in trust, and for the use
of the inhabitants of said county, and thereon to erect and build
a court house and prison, sufficient to accommodate the public
service of the said county, and for the ease and conveniency of
the inhabitants." For which purpose three hundreds pounds
were authorized to be assessed and levied, for purchasing land,
and finishing the court house and prison.

By the same act, Edward Scull of Philadelphia county, Ben-
jamin Lightfoot of Chester county, and Thomas Cookson of
Lancaster county, were appointed to run, mark out and dis-
tinguish the boundary line between the said counties of Phila-
delphia, Chester, Lancaster, and of Berks.

An act was passed, February 18, 1769, appointing William
McClay, William Scull, and John Biddle, jr., to settle and fix
the boundary line dividing the counties of Lancaster, Berks,
and Cumberland. The former commissioners, Edward Scully
Benjamin Lightfoot, and Thomas Cookson, not having con-
tinued said line further than the settlement at that time (1752)
made. And, whereas, many were then (1769) settled, and new
settlements then making beyond the said lines of 1752, and
disputes having then already risen, and others were likely to
arise, concerning the limits and bounds of the said counties of
Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, and Northampton; by reason
of the boundary linv?s of 1752, not being completed, the act of
February IS, 1769> authorized and required Messrs. McClay>
Scull, and Biddle, and enjoined it that they should, within the
space of nine months from the passage of the act, "to assem-
ble themselves together, and to extend, run, and mark out, by
* Feb. 18j 1769, an act was passed to settle this line.

filStORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 121

actual survey, the boundary lines between the said counties of"
Lancaster, Cumberland, and Berks, and between the county of
Berks and that of Northampton, by continuing the said due
Horth-west course, from the south-east ends of the lines already
run between the said counties respectively, as far as the lands
lately purchased by the honorable, the proprietaries of this pro-
vince from the Indians, do extend ; and that the costs, charges,
and expenses of running, surveying, and marking out the said
line, so far as the same shall run between the said coimties of
Eerks and Lancaster — and that the costs, charges, and ex-
penses of running the said line, so far as the same shall extend
between the said counties of Cumbei'land and Berks, shall be
paid equally between the said counties of Berks and Cumber-
land."

Berks, since its organization or erection in 1752, has been
reduced by annexation of a part to the county of Northumber-
land, March 21, 1772, which was erected out of parts of Lan-
caster, Cumberland, Berks, Bedford, and Northampton ; and
by the erection of Schuylkill, March 1, 1811 — the townships
of Brunswick, Schuylkill, Manheim, Norwegian, Upper and
Lower INIahantango, and Pine Grove, were a part of Berks
county. The average length of Berks county, at present, is
about thirty-two miles, and in breadth not exceeding twenty-
eight; containing an area of nine hundred and twenty-seven
square miles. The present population may exceed seventy
thousand.

As above stated, Berks county was formed out of Philadel-
phia, Chester, and Lancaster counties. All on the east side of
the Schuylkill was, at the erection of Berks, part of Philadel-
phia, and was divided into the following townships: Alsace,
Exeter, Amity, AUimengle or Albany, Oley, and Colebrookdalo.
The southern portion of Berks was part of Chester, and divided
into two townships, Coventry and Nantmill ; parts of each of
these townships are now included in Union township, organised
since the erection of the county. The v/est and north-west
portion was part of Lancaster, and dividtvJ into the following-
townships, namely: Caernarvon, Robeson, Tulpehocken, Hei-
delberg, Bethel, Tulpehocken, Cumru, and Bern.

11

CHAPTER X.

HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF EACH TOWN*
SHIP IN BERKS COUNTY.

In giving the history, extent, &c., of the townships as now
organized, each will be given as bounded at present; but in
giving the names of the first settlers, these will be introduced,
speaking of the townships as they were bounded at, or soon
after the organization of the county.

ALBANY TOWNSHIP.

Albany township, lying a little east of due north from Read-
ing, is one of the most northern townships in the county, and
on account of its partial barrenness, was known for many years
by the name of " Allemeangel" — Jill-wants. It was, however,
settled at a comparatively early period. In 1741, as it was
then bounded, it contained thirty-seven taxables, and in 1758,
it contained eighty-five taxables. The first settlers were Ger-
mans, as will appear from the following list of names, including
those who resided therein prior to 1756.

Valentine Brobst, Martin Brobst, Henry Ritter, Michael
Brobst, Christian Hechter, Philip Stambach, Arnold Bittich,
John Kunstler, George Klingerman, William Stampf, Cornelius
Dries, Tobias Stabelton, Frantz Bety, Andreas Hagenbuch,
John Miller, Martin Kemp, Peter Knoper, Jacob Wirth, Jacob
Gerhardt, Heinrich Reichelsderfer, George Trump, Johannes
Hein, John Wilt, Jacob Pohr, Jacob Kuntz, Simon Uries, Val-
entine Petri, George Lili, John Steygerwald, John Uries, Philip
Kugler, John Kluck, Michael Maurer, Christian Heinrich, An-
tony Adam, Nicholas Wenner, Nicholas Muldenberger, Chris-
tian Linseberger, Jacob Bachert, Nicholas Bachert, Henry
Zunmerman, George Stimperd, George Kunckell, Jacob Stamm,
John Bricker, Jacob Lantz, Frederich Hauer, Johan Nicholas
Strasser, Martin Kasser, Christian Kielbach, Michael Hollen-
bach, Wilhelm Smedder, Michael Herpster, Johan Nicholas
Emerich, Jacob Gordner, Johannes Smedder, Peter Seebold,
George Rau, Nicholas Smith, Henry Ruppert, Frederick Hesse,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 123

Christian Scherif, Samuel Leydy, Christian Brancher, George
Kautzman, Jacob Biely, Daniel Paulscher, Jacob Donath,
Dewald Beilman, Solomon Bacher, Philip Shelhame, Chris-
tian Schwenck, John Lieps, Frederick Reichelsderfer, Daniel
Smith, Henry Kronig, Henry Fallweiler, Elias Rothschoen,
Philip Bauer, Jacob Driess, Jacob Hagenbach.

In the early part of February, 1756, the Indians committed
several cruel and barbarous murders in this township. On the
14th of February, 1756, the Indians came to the house of Fre-
derick Reichelsderfer, shot two of his children, set his house
and barn on fire, and burnt up all his grain and cattle. Thence
they proceeded to the house of Jacob Gerhart, where they
killed one man, two women, and six children. "Two children
slipped under the bed, one of which was burned; the other es-
caped, and ran a mile to get to the people.

When the intelligence of this murder had reached Maxatany,
many of the inhabitants of that township repaired to Albany,
to see what damage had been done; while on their way, they
received accounts of other murders: "When," says Jacob
Levan, in a letter to Mr. Seely, February 15, 1756, "I had
got ready to go with my neighbors from Maxatany, to see what
damage was done in Albany ; three men that had seen the
shocking affair came and told me, that eleven were killed, eight
of them burnt, and the other three found dead out of the fire.
An old man was scalped, the two others, little girls, were not
scalped."*

On the 24th of March following, says the Pennsylvania Ga-
zette, April 1, 1756, ten wagons went up to Allemaengle (Al-
bany) to bring down a family with their effects; and as they
were returning, about three miles below George Zeisloff's,
were fired upon by a number of Indians from both sides of the
road ; upon which the wagoners left their wagons and ran into
the woods, and the horses frightened at the firing and terrible
yelhng of the Indians, ran down a hill and broke one of the
Avagons to pieces. That the enemy killed George ZeislofF and
his wife, a lad of twenty, a boy, of twelve, also a girl of four-
teen years old, four of whom they scalped. That another girl
was shot in the neck, and through the mouth, and scalped, not-
withstanding all which she got olf. That a boy was stabbed
in three places, but the wounds were not thought to be moi"-
* See page 58.

124 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON' COUNTIES.

tal. That they killed two of the horses, and five are missing,
with which it is thought the Indians carried off the most \ahi-
able goods that were in the wagon."

Sometime in November, 1756, the Indians appeared again in
this township and carried off the v.'ife of, and three children of
Adam Burns — the youngest child was only four weeks old. In
the month of June, 1757, the Indians murdered one Adam
Trump — they took Trump's wife and his son, a lad nineteen
years old, prisoners; but the woman escaped, though upon her
flying, she was so closely pursued by one of the Indians, (of
which there were seven,) that he threw his tomahawk at her,
and cut her badly in the neck. The instances of murder were
both numerous and barbarous in this township.

Its preseut boundary is as follows: On the north and west
by the Blue mountain, owing to the singular configuration of
the mountain; on the east by Lehigh county, and on the south
by Greenwich township. It contains about twenty-one thou-
sand acres of land. The soil in the north-western part is slats
or shale, and in the south-eastern part somewhat sandy; but
upon the whole, the soil is of inferior quality throughout the
township, and the surface broken and hilly. It is drained by
Maiden creek, which flows through the south-eastern part, in-
tersecting the township unequally, and its tributaries, which
are Mill creek and Stony run on the east, and Pine creek and
one or two smaller streams on the west. Besides the mountain
on the north, noted for its prominent termination, there is Round
Top or " Peaked Mountain,^' rising in the form of a sugar loaf,
to the height of a thousand feet or more. There are three
churches in this township, two forges, seven grist mills, five
saw mills, six public houses, two stores, eight schools, two jus-
tices of the peace, John Miller and George Reagan, Esqs.
There are two post offices in the township, viz. at Featherolfs-
ville, and at Union Iron Works. Population in 1810, was 996 :
in 1820, 1182; 1830, 1129; 1840, 1057, according to the
census: 181 horses, 643 horned cattle, 604 sheep, 585 swine;
raise 1158 bushels of wheat, 9982 rye, 6852 corn, 4590 oats,
2932 buckwheat, 6302 potatoes, 590 tons of hay, 822 pounds of
wool. Tax valuation for 1844, for county purposes, $281,088:
for State purposes, $271,613; county tax $562,17.. Gross
amount of State tax, $312,45.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 125

AMITY TOWNSHIP.

Amity township,, in the southern part of the county, was
among the first settled townships in the county, originally set-
tled by Swedes* and Germans. There is, at present, a dura-
bly built house standing on the east bank of the Schuylkill,
erected in 1716, as appears from a stone in the front wall of
the house, with the initials, probably of the builder's name,^
"I. M. I. 1716." The house stands near Douglasville, near
which is the old Swedish church, known as the Molatton
church, a place of considerable note in the early history of the
province.

It was at Molatton that the Indian chiefs, Allumraapces,
Opekasset, and Manawkyhickon,^ cannot be enabled to attend
a treaty at Conestoga, proposed to meet the Honorable Pa-
trick Gordon, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, in relation
to the unfortunate affray between the Palatines and Indians, at
the iron works at Mahanatawny.

"June 3d, 1728, the governor informed the Board of the
Council, convened at Philadelphia, that while he was at Cones-
toga, he received an answer to the messages sent by order of
the Board, the 15th May, to Allummapecs, Opekasset, and
Manawkyhickon, which were in substance, that Allummapecs
and Opekasset had received the governor's letter and present,
that they had nothing in their hearts but love and good will
towards the governor and all his people, that they would have
apprehended some danger if the governor had not sent to them,
but that now their doubts are over and offer to meet the gover-
nor at Molatton, because they cannot reach Conestoga. by the
time appointed."

"The governor then said, that understanding Allummapecs
and Opekasset, were come to Molatton, he despatched messen-
gers to them, with an invitation to come down to Philadelphia;
and that accordingly they were now come, and had brought
with them some of the relations of those Indians lately killed
by the Winters, and therefore he was now to advise with the.
Board upon what might be proper to be paid to them, and the
presents, necessary on the occasion.

As early as 1741, there were rising of seventy taxables ia

* See chapter iv., page SO.
11*

126 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

the township. In 1752, the following persons were returned
as taxables to the county commissioners, namely:

Cornelius Gehard, Ellis Griffith, George Lutz, Joseph Brown,
William Winter, Philip Snear, Joseph Boon, Mathias Hipser,
John Adam Bickly, John Waren, Edward Drury, Enos Ellis,
Gilbert Dehard, Baltzer Schultz, Thomas Brownfield, John
Wolf, John Lowry, Jacob Weaver, Daniel Andraes, Michael
Trump, Nicholas Boyer, Martin Becker, John Webb, Law-
rence Cropper, Maurice Ellis, Jacob Rhoads, Peter Weaver,
Jacob Crusi, Cornelius Dehart, Daniel Fraily, Samuel Emwigh,
Rinichots Oningthun, Philip Boyer, Michael Messinger, Jacob
Early, John Sands, John I'itergrinder, Daniel Ludwick, John
Campbell, John Huling, William Davis, Hugh Mitchell, Shed-
rick Lord, Hernis Shegal, Henry Gibson, Francis Gibson, John
Childs, John Samuel Hatt, Thomas Bansfield, John Hoose,
Philip Balser Crissman, John Marlain Fritz, Rolarul Harris,
John Rafesnider, Hugh McCaffry, John Taylor, John Sue,
Nicholas Jones, John Adam Ludwick, Lenard Roadermell,
Jonas Jones, James Waren, Jacob Waren, Peter Kerlin, Ludo-
wick Gouogar, Henry Vanreed, Daniel Woombledorf, William
Champbell, Conrad Barlett, Abijah Sands, Mathias Maiday,
Marcus Huling, John Ewalt, John Kerlin, John Yocomb, An-
drew Ringberry, Peter Yocomb, Peter Livergood, George Shit-
ler, Conrad Lutz, Garrad Deways, George Fritz, Charles
Smith, George Adam Fisher, Adam Livergood, George Han-
selmah, David Buchard, Jacob Neagly, Edward Harding, Fel-
ly Cackly, Michael Cougler, Christopher Wickle, Derrick
Cleaver, Adam Hatfield, Samuel Bosarder, Andreas Bosarder,
George Adam Weidner, Isaac Wiseman, Thomas Mains, Ma-
thew Culford, Frederick Haws, Charles Herman, Frederick
Hoppman, William Williams, Solomon Broonfield, Abraham
Andrews, John Peter Wyler, Valentine Ems, James Burn, Ru-
dolph Mictz, Joseph Thomas, Jacob Barnet, William Walker.
Many of these were Swedes, or their descendants.

It is bounded on the north-east by Oley and Earl townships;
Qn the south-east by Douglass; south-west by the Schuylkill,
separating it from Union; and north-west by Exeter; being
nearly a square of four miles, containing about ten thousand
five hundred acres of land, principally red shale and gravel; the
surface undulating, except the central part, which bears a
mountain aspect on account of Monakesy Hill, which strongly

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 127

marks the prominent features of that part of the township.
Though the soil is red gravel and shale, it has been in many
places rendered highly productive; and land is rated from
twelve to sixty dollars per acre.

This township is intersected by two considerable streams,
by Monokesy creek in the north- w^est, and the Mahanatawny
creek, in the north-east; on both of which are several mills;
there are six grist mills, live saw mills, and one fulling mill in
the township; besides these two streams there are several
smaller ones, all winding their course to the Schuylkill. There
are several small villages in the township ; Douglassville, near
the line between Douglass and Amity township, Warrensburg,
and Weavertown — there is a church held in common by the Lu-
tlierans and German Reformed. There is also one English
Presbyterian church at Warrensburg — one near Manokesy hill.
The Perkiomen turnpike road, and the Reading railroad pass
through the township; the latter along the Schuylkill, and the
former within a few miles of it. The population in 1810, 1090 ;
1820, 1279;] 1830, 1378; 1840, 1664,-278 horses, 903
horned cattle, 535 sheep, 840 swine; raise 9912 bushels of
wheat, 13,775 rye, 18,543 corn, 22,745 oats, 589 buckwheat,
4038 potatoes, 1703 tons of hay, 1220 pounds of wool, 920
flax. Valuation of articles for county tax for 1844, ^543,321 ;
amount of tax, «)i>1090 64. Gross amount of State tax, $791 44.

BERN TOWNSHIP.

Bern township, contiguous to, and north-west of the borough
of Reading, was settled by those whose ancestors had emigra-
ted from a canton in Switzerland, one of the largest, and second
in rank in the Swiss confederation, called Bern ; and in memory
of the canton of their forefathers, named their new and future
home, Bern.

Many of the first settlers were men of wealth, influence, and
possessed weight of character, and some of whose descendants
are conspicuous in the annals of our country, both as soldiers,
statesmen and divines — of these were the Hiesters and others.
The primitive settlements in this township were made between
the years 1728 and 1740, and prmcipally by Germans, as will

12S HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

appear on examining the following list of taxables for the
year 1752 :

Abraham Hause, Josejoh Richards, Albright Straus, Philip
Straus, Joseph Shoemaker, Jacob Good, Christian Stutsman,
Jacob Hanslerf, Anenias Sickle, Walter Rumford, George
Sheel, Hans Filbert, Jacob Weisner, Jacob Reiler, George
Wagoner, Jacob Kaufman, Fredrick Moir, Ludowick Nicholas,
Samuel Minks, Felty Long, Ludowick Meily, Joseph Solend-
brien, John Sever, Albright Fright, Rynard Chartle, Jacob
Stutsman, Henry Steely, Jacob Westlar, Jacob Reiler, John
Sreber, Valentine Helmberger, Nicholas Miller, Henry Busand,
Nicholas Runch, Michael Bumer, John Passman, Matthew
Turnbeh, Philip Jacobs, Christian King, George Crusel, Cor-
tes Crusel, Ludowick Semarr, William Tumblcson, John Smith,
Christopher Four, Eenjamin Kepler, Samuel King, Christian
Pike, Pence Leman, John Holy, Pence Benedict, Henry Adam,
John Hertzberger, Christopher Yader, Jacob Bader, Martin
Geek, John Fisher, John Kaufman, Everhard Caspin, Gerry
Wao-oner, jr., Jacob Pertgoble, John Young, John Zimmer-
man, Bastian Rood, Christian Yader, Philip Faust, Hermann
Weaver, Daniel Hiester, George Gardner, John Faust, Chris-
tian Albright, Michael Stout, Jacob Bois, Peter Harpin,
Matthew Weaver, Jacob Rezer, jr., Martin Cheaner, Joseph
Heck, John Runch, John Bucks, John Meater, John Snider,
senr., Jacob Rude, William Leymeister, George Bellman, Cas-
per Phihp, David Grim, Jacob Grim, Nicholas Klee, Philip
Bower, Michael Hansel, John Snider, jr., John Althaus, John
Richards, Titus Denning, John Elteiian, Nicholas Souder,
James Williamson, Adam Rickebach, John Stout, Christian
Kaufman, Jacob Albright, Andreas Weiler, Jacob Runcle,
Christian Berer, George Kirsner, Christian Zuch, Samuel Wal-
lison. 'John Apler, Adam Bohn, Frederick Trum, John Macki-
more, Woolrick Rathmackcr, Jacob Fuchs, Philip Mackimore,
Peter Brown,* Valentine Epler, John Heister, John Rebert,
Jost Hiester, Adam Stump, William Hettrich, Nicholas Haller,
Jacob Summer, Jacob Rezer, Joseph Obelt, Heroniraus Henig,
Hans Michael Leep, Jacob Miller, Wondle Brecht, David
Brecht, Jacob Allwene, Henry Kettner, George Gernant, Peter
Zuber, Samuel Wallison. Not a few of these were descend-
ants of the Huguenots, of whom something has been said in
chapter v., pages 83, 88.

HISTORY OF BERKS AKD LEBANON COUNTIES. 129'

The inhabitants of this township, in common with all the
frontier townships, suffered much frona the cruel enemy, maraud-
ing the county. The last murders, of which we have any no-
tice, committed on this side the Blue Mountain, in Bei-ks, were
committed in Bern township. The following letter from Jonas
Seely to Governor Penn, (son of Richard Penn,) contains this
account :

Reading, September 11, 1763.
Honored Sir —

This moment at Reading, as I was sending off the express,
certain intelligence came that the house of Frantz llubler, in
Berne township, about eighteen miles from here, Was attacked
on Friday evening last, by the Indians — himself is wounded,
his wife and three children carried off — and three other of the
children scalped alive — two of whom are since dead.

I am, Honored Sir,
Your humble and

Obedient servant,

Jonas, Seely.

In another letter, the same writer says : " We are all in a
state of alarm ; Indians have destroyed dwellings, and murdered
with savage barbarity, their helpless inmates ; even in the
neighborhood of Reading. Where these Indians came from,
and where going, we know not. These are dangerous times.
Send us armed force to aid our rangers of Berks."

This township is bounded on the north by Centre township,
which has been organized out of parts of Bern and Upper
Bern, since 1830 ; on the east by the Schuylkill river, separat-
ing it from Maiden Creek, and Alsace township ; south-west
by the Tulpehocken creek, separating it from Cumru and lower
Heidelberg townships ; north-west by Penn township, which
W'as formed out of Bern and Upper Bern ; extreme about seven
miles and a half, and greatest breadth seven miles ; average
length and breadth about live miles ; area of about 20,000
acres, and the surface considerably undulative ; the soil prin-
cipally gravel, but considerably improved by a proper course
of tillage. Bern presents a kind of Delta, lying in the fork of
the Tulpehocken creek and the Schuylkill river, which, to~
gather with Plum creek, afford abundance of water power for

130 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

mills and other purposes. In 1840, there were one flouring
mill, six grist mills, seven saw mills, one powder mill, and three
tanneries in the towdship. There are two churches in the
township, Epler's, six miles from Reading, and Bern church.
The first church here was singularly decorated by a grotesque
painting. Bernville, fourteen miles from Reading, is a post
village.

The following, which is " dipt" from the " Schuylkill Jour-
nal" of May, 1839, shows that some native genius is to be
found in Bern. To stimulate some dormant genius, whose eye
may be caught by this, space is given to a tribute of praise. —
The Editor of the Journal says : " A short time since I called
to see Jacob Mip.sse, Esq., of Bern township, Berks county.
Pa., who showed me a number of engravings executed by his
son Gabriel Miesse. The young gentleman has an undoubted
claim to talents. The first piece of work of the kind he per-
formed, is surprisingly well done, when it is recollected he had
never seen a copper-plate — in fact, not even a graver, for this in-
strument was constructed by a neighboring blacksmith, accord-
ing to a pattern furnished by the young man himself. In con-
sequence of the development of such promising talents, he was
jirevailed upon by the liberality of his father, to resort to
Philadelphia, and put himself under the care of an ex-
perienced artist. But from great constitutional delicacy of
frame, he did not remain there more than ten days or two
weeks, before he was attacked by a severe illness, which obliged
him to return to the country, and abandon those opportunities
so congenial to his taste. He continued, however, to amuse
himself by engraving a great variety of pieces, among which
are plants, flowers, animals, the human figure, &c., executed
with a spirit of fidelity, truly astonishing, and turned off by an
apparatus wholly constructed by himself, from the stile to the
press."

Population in 1810, 1,240 ; 1820, 1,791 ; 1830, 2,154 ;
1840, 3,149. Horses 907 ; horned cattle 1,774 ; sheep
1,135 : Swine 2,105 ; bushels of wheat 29,960 ; rye 39,267 ;
corn 37,885; oats 48,227; buckwheat 1,354; potatoes 16,-
219 ; tons of hay 4,307 ; pounds of wool 2,122 ; flax 3,261.
Valuation of articles for county lax ^602,884 ; county tax
^1,205 ; State tax $672,35.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIESt 131

BETHEL TOWNSHIP.

Bethel township was, no doubt, so called after a colony of'
United Brethren or Moravians, who had a small establishment
on the Swatara, in this township, called Bethel ; the literal
meaning of which is, " The House of God."

Bethel town'ihip is the most north-western township of Berks
county ; primitively settled by Germans, whose descendants are
still the owners of their ancestors farms and homestead. In no
township of the county were more life sacrificed to glut the de-
structive propensities of the barbarous Indians, during the
French and Indian war, than in this township. It was in this
township Captain Busse, under the direction of the province
and inspection of Conrad Weiser, Fort William and Henry was
erected, and well garrisoned by one company and a half — part
of a regiment consisting of nine companies, under the command
of Colonel Conrad Weiser ; and notwithstanding the fort being
within this township, the Indians killed many of the inhabitants.

Under date of November 19, 1755, Conrad Weiser, in a let-
ter to Governor Morris, says : " On my return from Philadel-
phia, the first news of our cruel enemy having invaded the
county, this side of the Blue Mountain, to wit : Bethel and
Tulpehocken."

In a deposition, signed by James Morgan, it is stated that on
Sunday, the 16th November, 1755, a company of one hundred
and thirty inhabitants of Berks, pri»cipally from Heidelberg
and Tulpehocken, went to Bethel township ; and that near
Dieterich Six's, about half a mile from his house, they found
Casper Spring dead, and scalped, whose brains had been knock-
ed out, and having buried him, they marched about one hun-
dead rods and found one Beslinger dead, and scalped ; his brains
were also knocked out, his mouth much mangled, one of his
eyes cut out, and two knives lying in his breast — they buried
him. That twenty of their body, who had gone a little out of
the road, about two miles from Six's, found a child of Jacob
Wolf — and that the day before, some of the same company had
found John Leinberger and Rudolp Candel, dead and scalped.

It is farther stated, " the whole country thereabouts desert-
ed their habitations, and sent away all their household goods —

132 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

that much mischief had been done by the Indians, by burning
houses and barns.

Loskiel, in speaking of the Moravian settlements, in 1756,
thus alludes to the colony in Bethel : — " The savages continued
to commit murders in AUemaengel ; and a lance lost by them
on the road, proved them to be some of the very people who
had attended the Congress (Indian treaty) at Easton. Roving
parties infested the borders of the country, the public roads,
and all those places in which they feared no resistance ; so that
the small colonies of Brethren settled in AUemaengel and Bethel,
on Swatara, who had held out with uncommon patience, were
at last obliged to- take refuge, the former in Bethlehem, and
the latter in Lebanon."*

Some thne in the month of June, 1758, the Indians carried off
the wife of John Frantz, and three of his children. Mrs.
Frantz being rather infirm and sickly, not able to travel, was
most cruelly murdered by the savages ; the children they took
with them.f

At the time this murder was committed, Mr. Frantz was out
at work ; his neighbors having heard the firing of guns by the
Indians, immediately repaired to the house of Frantz ; on their
way there apprised him of the report — wdien they arrived at
the house they found Mrs. Frantz dead, and all the children
gone ; they then pursued the Indians some distance, but all in
vain. The children were taken and kept captives for several
years.

A few years after this horrible affair, all of them, except one,
the youngest, were exchanged. The oldest of them, a lad of
twelve or thirteen years of age, at the time w^hen captured, re-
lated the tragical scene of his mother being tomahawked and
shamefully treated. Him they compelled to carry the youngest.

The anxious father, having received two of his children as
from the dead, still sighed for the one that was not. When-
ever he heard of children being exchanged, he mounted his
horse to see whether among the captured, was not his dear lit^
tie one. On one occasion he paid a man forty poujids, who had
reported he knew where the child w^as, if he restored it. To
another he paid a hundred dollars, and himself went to Canada

* Loskiers His. Mis. U. F. La Trobe's Translation, Part ii., p. 180.
t Pennsylvania Gazette, June 1758.

> HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 133

in search of the lost one — but, to his sorrow, never could trace
his child. A parent can realize his feelings — they cannot be
described.

The following persons were returned to the county commis-
sioners, as taxables of this township, in 1754 :

Martin Kepler, Charles Smith, Michael Grossman, Casper
Snevely, George Reninger, Loretz Stautz, Wendc) Reeger,
John Schuie, Peter Bixler, Martin Eichgelberger, Martin
Eisenhauer, John Eichgelberger, Michael Groff, George GrofF,
Frederick Sixth, George Boeshor, John Kunkle, Martin Speck,
Jacob Dehn, Adam Kussel, George Emrich, Michael Wieland,
Nicholas Marke, David Marke, .Nicholas Gebhart, Andreas
Smitii, Jacob Sierer, John Apple, Daniel Sneider, Henry Ko-
bel, Conrad Fuerther, Ulrich Spies, Henry Shuie, Christopher
Herold, Frantz Legenberger, Adam Daniel, Nicolaus Pontius,
George Berger, Henry Berger, Andrew Kremer, John Emrich,
Jacob Smith, Jacob Emrich, Jacob Zerbe, Baltzer Emrich,
Leonard Emrich, Jacob Leyninger, Ulrich Seltzer, Baltzer
Smith, Frederick Tresler, Martin Tresler, Bastian Stein,
Thomas Bauer, Rudy Mayer, John Frantz, Peter Mayer, John
Adam Walborn, John Adam Bartorf, William Parsons, Esq.,
Christel Neucommer, Wendel Seibert, Christopher Knebel, Pe-
ter Dietrich, Christopher Reier, Dietrich Markle, Nicholas
Wolf.

The quantity of land owned by the above, was 2,230 acres,
whereof were cleared and sowed in grain, 168 acres ; horses 68 ;
mares 25; cows 103; sheep 41; servants 4; one hired man,
Dietrich Markle.

Bethel, as it is at present, is bounded on the north by the
Blue Mountain, for the distance of fifteen miles, which separates
it from Schuylkill county ; east and south by the Little Swa-
tara creek, which divides it from Upper and Lower Tulpe-
hocken towmships; south and west by Lebanon county; its
mean length is about eight miles, and mean breadth about five
miles, having «n area of about 27,000 acres of land. The sur-
face is diversified ; in the north, somewhat mountainous; soil
nearly all gravel, some yellow shale, and upon the whole, not
productive. Parts of it, however, have been rendered produc-
tive by the shield and care of the provident husbandman. /'

The main road from Jonesto\vn, in Lebanon county, to Reh-
rersburg, passes through the south part of it — the road to Pine
12

134

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Grove crosses it on the east; that to Sunbury, centrally, and
the State road to the west. The Little Swatara and Grosskill,
are the principal streams, affording good water power. There
are four grist mills, six saw mills, one fulling mill, and one
woollen factory in the township ; two tanneries and several dis-
tilleries— but at present, not in operation. Millersburg is the
only village in the township, containing between thirty and
forty dwellings, several taverns, and stores ; one church, held in
common by the Lutherans and German Reformed. The Ger-
man Baptists, or Dunkers, have one or two meeting places.

The population in 1810,924; 1820,1,294; 1830,1,482;
1840, 1,458; horses 463; horned cattle 1,480; sheep 836;
swine 966; bushels of wheat 11,852; rye 16,491; corn 18,822;
oats 26,880; buckwheat 587; potatoes 5,662; tons of hay
1,886; pounds of wool 1,427; flax 836. Valuation for county
tax for 1844, $524,501; county tax $1,049 00; State tax
"■""3,45.

BRECKNOCK TOWNSHIP.

Brecknock township, in the southern part of the county, was
called so, after Brecon or Brecknock, an inland county of South
Wales, whence some of the first settlers in this part of Berks
county have emigrated. The primitive settlers of this town-
ship were the following, among w'hom were a few Germans:

George Douglass, Charles Hornberry, George Hesong, Jacob
Fry, Adam Beamer, Daniel Commer, Henry Miller, John Black,
Casper Koch, John Long, David Commer, M. Geyman, Abra-
ham Stein, Leobald Yost, John Aldibery, Jacob West, James
Ratlitf, Bernhard Pealer, Adam Philabaum, Hans Ruble, Jere-
miah Seemor, Michael Finfro^, Christian Acre, Michael
Frankhauser, Adam NeiJe, Hans Hamigh,Hans Moser, Michael
Slaugh, Henry Brindle, Henry Ourwasher, Daniel Cooper,
Joseph Wenger, Nicholas Shans, Peter Baltsly, Christian Gey-
man, John Comler.

It is bounded on the north by Cumru township; on the east
by Robeson township, and south-east by Carnarvon ; south-
west by Lancaster county, and on the northwest by Cumru;
greatest length seven miles; mean breadth about two and a

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 135

half; contains rising of ten thousand acres of land. The sur-
face is generally hilly, and the soil gravel; but pretty well
improved, though there is still much room for greater improve-
ment.

The township is well supplied with water. Allegheny creek
rises near the centre of this township, and in a north-eastern
direction meanders through the glens, and seeks its way to-
wards the Schuylkill, affording water power to several mills
within the limits of the township. Big and Little Muddy
creeks have their sources in this township; the former rises
in the eastern, the latter in the western part of the tow^n-
ship, and unite in Lancaster county, and empty into the Cones-
toga. There is a German Reformed church in this township.
Population in 1810, 495; 1820, 536; 1830, 866; 1840, 935.
Horses 335; horned cattle 956; sheep 749; swine 671;
bushels of wheat 2,491; rye 7,056; corn 8,072; oats 5,991;
buckwheat 792 ; potatoes 6,523 ; tons of hay 909 ; pounds of
wool 1,357; flax 1,397. Valuation of articles for tax for
1844, 8148,131; county tax $296,26; State tax $179,14.

CARNARVON TOWNSHIP.

Ceernarvon township, is the extreme southern township of
the county; was originally settled by Welsh, who named it
after a maritime county of North Wales, whence they had
emigrated. The following list embraces all the primitive set-
tlers who lived at the time of the organization of Berks
county .

Nicholas Hadson, John Wilson, George Martin, Richard
Smith, Moses Martin, Jacob Cymerlin, Archibald Mahon,
William Robeson, Daniel Jones, Aaron Rattue, John Davis,
John Light, John Hamilton, Nicholas Hudson, John Bracken,
Aaron Ash, Alexander Adams, Mathias Broadsword, Valen-
tine Carberry, Joseph Davis, Robert Ellis, John Evans, Daniel
Fox, John Fern, Daniel Gillis, Thomas Harper,, Jacob Hof-
raan, David Jones, Francis Morgan, Daniel Owen, Mark Pea-
lor, Richard Philips, Charles Richardson, Moses Robinson,
Wilham Robinson, Cornelius Shea, John Stephens, Benjamin.
Talbert, John Morgan, Daniel Davis, John Talbert.

136 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES*

The township is bounded on the north by Robeson townshipi;';
south-east by Chester county, and north-west by Lancaster,.
Its mean length five miles ; mean breadth two miles and a half;
contains upwards of ten thousand acres of land ; the surface is
diversified — the soil is gravel and limestone, the greater part of
which is well cultivated.

The township lies principally in the great valley. In no part
of Berks county, do farms surpass those in this township.
They are well cultivated, and very productive. "Few travel-
lers," says a certain writer, speaking of this part of the county,
''who pass through it, can well avoid the breach of the tenth
commandment, or refrain from envying the inhabitants their
tranquil life and abundant comforts — their spacious and. neat
dwellings of stone, and their capacious and overflowing gar-
ners, their fields studded with cattle and whitened with sheep, -
are substantial witnesses of their happiness."

It is pretty well watered ; the Conestoga creek aifords water
jjower, on which, within the borders of Csernarvon, are several
mills. There is some iron ore in this township, but mixed with
some copper. This is stated upon the authority of the Assis-
tant State Geologist. He says, speaking of Berks county:
*' Copper ore occurs at several places within the county, but
generally in such small quantities, and so mixed with iron, as to-
render the expediency of working it very doubtful. Near Mor-
gantown is a mine of this charaqter, which is not at present in
a productive state." It contains three stores, one flouring mill,
three grist mills, and three saw mills. Morgantown, a post vil-:
lage, is a small town, though pleasantly situated on the Cones-
toga turnpike road, thirteen miles from Reading; it contains
between forty and fifty dwellings, the usual handicrafts, seve-
ral stores and taverns; population rising of three hundred; con-
tains a German Reformed Church.

The population of this township was in 1830, 1440; 1840,
1830. Horses 208; horned cattle 705; sheep 544; bushels
of wheat 13,570; rye 4,205; corn 9,764; oats 12,859; buck-
wheat 491; potatoes 3,597; tons of hay 713; pounds of
wool 804; flax 1,121. Valuation of articles for county tax
for 1844, $244,617 ; county tax $480,23 ; State tax $324,75.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. I'STT

COLEBROOKDALE TOWNSHIP.

Colehrookdnh township, was among the first organized town-
ships, and settled at a comparatively early period. Among the
first settlers were a. number of Palatine families, of whom men-
tion is made in the Coloniel Records, in the year 1728. In
1741, this county contained eighty-five taxables; and in 1752,
the year Berks county was organized, the following were the
names of the taxables of tliis township:

Conrad Rode, Thomas Potts, Conrad Read, Mathias Dat-
terow, John Potts, Peter Gars, Casper Richard, Leopold Long,
Paul Picteo, Thomas Weasor, Casper Bowman, John Shouts,
Conrad Mone, Manues Sossiminius, (Sassamanhous,) Godfried
Kesabaer, Barnebas Rhodes, Thomas Schohn, Adam Gerber,
David Potts, John Wartler, Adam Ritznover, John Michael
Dotterer, Fredrick Erne, Nicholas Eiss, Conrad Boehm, An-
drew Eschenbach, John Moir, Conrad Seihiber, John Buck-
waiter, Peter Lower, Bernhard Wanemacher, Philip Filtz,
Daniel Stover, Paul Finsman, John Baily, Paul Mosner, Mi-
chael Hartlein, Michael Klein, Jacob Ganz, Stephen Hautz,
Jacob Mathias, Ruben Tuders, Jacob Miller, Adam Lintz, Ja-
cob Bush, John Beicker, Jacob Hauk, Frederick Potts, Jacob
Tangier, Henry Schweitzer, Leonard Thomas, Jacob Machhn,
Francis Carle, John Pile, George Kirch, Thomas Walker,
George Hartley, Daniel Stover, Jacob Klotz.

This township is at present bounded, as follows : North-east
by Washington township, formed out of part of Colebrookdale
and Hereford ; south-east by Montgomery county, south-west
by Douglass, and north-west by Earl and Pike; it is near a
square of three miles, and contains rising of six thousand acres
of land; surfiice rather hilly ; soil principally gravel, and some
loam; generally, however, of a good quahty, and rendered, by
a proper system of culture, productive. The Stone and Swamp
creek have their sources in this township, There are several
grist mills, saw mills, fulling mills, in this township. Black
lead has been discovered, and iron ore of the magnetic variety,
connected with the primary rocks, abounds — one of these is
near Boyerstown. These mines were formerly worked for the
supply of furnaces, in the vicinity of the mines.

Boyerstown, a post village, is situated in the south-eastern

12*

138 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES..

part of the township, where there is a church, common to the
Lutherans and German Reformed.

Population in 1810, 792; 1820, 1,046; 1830, 1,219; 1840,
1,124. Horses 193 ; horned cattle 678 ; sheep 292 ; swine 393 ;
bushels of wheat 3,303; rye 4,174; corn 7,010; oats 6,985;
buckwheat 545 ; potatoes 3,422; tons of hay 812; pounds of
wool 692; flax 1,392. Amount of valuation for tax for 1844,
$333,872; county tax $667,74; State tax $432,47.

CUMRU TOWNSHIP.

Cumru township was, like the last named townships, primi-
tively settled by the Welsh emigrants. It was within the limits
of this township, that two Welshmen, brothers, by the name of
Winters, murdered three friendly Indians. The circumstances
connected with this affair are given in the Colonial Records, as
detailed by Governor Gordon, who was, after the murder had
been committed, in the neighborhood, in 1728. In laying an
account thereof before the Council, " The Governor proceeded
and said, that after having used several methods to quiet the
country, (alluding here to the disturbance at Mahanatawny,)
and to induce the people to return to their habitations, and
having ordered some powder and lead to be distiibuled in case
of any attack. He was preparing to return home, when he
received the melancholy news by an express from Sanauel Nutt,
Esq., that one Indian man and two women were cruelly mur-.
dered, at Cucussea, by John and Walter Winters, without
any provocation given, and two Indian girls much wounded,
upon which a hue and cry was immediately issued against the
murderers, and he returned back next day to ]\Iahanatawny to
make enquiry into this matter, where he learned that the said
Winters and one Morgan Herbert, an accomplice in said mur-
ders, were apprehended, who being brought thither and exa-
mined, the said Winters confessed the murder, as did likewise
Herbert, his being present when they perpetrated the same, as
appears from the several examinations now laid before the
Board, and that they had nothing else to say in their justifica-
tion, than that, from the reports in the country of the Indians
having killed some white men, they thought they might law-
fully kill any Indian whom they found."

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 139

The following list of taxables for 1756, contains the names
of many of the first settlers in the township :

Adam Ziegler, Abraham Eckert, Andrew Woolf, Adam
Householder, Amos Jenkins, Andrew Bossard, Bastian Mor-
gan, Benjamin Horning, Casper StefF, Christian Bowman,
Christian Stehute, Christian Brinckle, Conrad Ohard, David
Edward, Daniel Shea, David Evans, Dietrich Fernsler, Dennis
Brady, Francis Yarnal, Francis Kreck, Francis Steele, Georg€
Jacob, George Bollman, George Burkhard, George Eckert,
George Bauer, George Kriralauf, George Englehardt, George
Bower, George Riehm, George Geminder, George Lewis, Hans.
Ruthey, Henry Alsbach, Henry Frelick, Harman Rule, Hans
Zovalle, John Emy, Jacob Bauman, Jacob Eshellnian, Isaac
Willets, Jacob Steldy, John Selegan,. John Davis, John Smithy
John Morris, John Hengle, Jacob Ruth, James David, Jacob
Freimeyer, Jona Stephen, Jacob Beyerly, Joseph Missler, John
Richard, James Lewis, John Eaton, Jacob Syder, James Perst,
John Englebrown, Joseph Wollinson, John Reed, Joseph Alt-
house, Jacob Clower, Jolm Davis, John Bryninger, John Klinc-
genny, John Bmckley, Ji\coh Worst, John Moon, John Creek,
John Henton, Jonas Seely, John Bollman, John Pugh, Lud-
wick Herman, Ludwick Moon, Michael Lamb,, Martin Koll-
mer, Michael Meyer, Michael Shoemaker, Michael Grauel,
Michael Ruth, Martin Beyer, Melchoir Steel, JMartin Brymin-
ger, Martin Kromer, Nicholas Creager, Nathan Evans, Nicho-
las Killian, Peter Hoeckert,, Peter Road, Peter Flick, Peter
Shearman, Nicholas Cowyer, Peter Neagley, Peter Eshelman,
Rudolph Hueberling^.Reiiihard Rorebach, Richard Lewis, Rein-
hard Waltz, Samuel Embree, Stephen Lash, Samuel Phipps,
Vernor Moone, Walter Burk, Vernor Weystel, William Jones,
William Thomas, William Lerch, Nicholas Lerch, William
Davis, Thomas Jones, Thomas Pest, Isaac Willets, Peter Road,
Henry Beyerley, Edward Harry, William Lewis, Nathan
Lewis, James Jones, Evan Harry, Nathaniel Morgan, John
Peter, Solomon Davis, James Davis, John Davis, Daniel Bos-,
sert, Jacob Creek, John Bopkin, Reuben Davis.

The following letter written, in this township, may be inter-
estmg to some of the readers here — though not exactly in place,
it is given.

140 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Sinking Spring, Sept. 10, 1763.
John Penn, Esq.
Honored Sir — •
I am sorry I have to acquaint your honor of the following
melancholy accounts, which I received by express from Capt.
Kern, last night. On the 8th inst., a party of Indians came to
the house of one John Fincher, about three-quarters of a mile
distant from a party of Captain Kern's men, commanded by
Ensign Sheffer. They killed Fincher, his wife, and two of his
sons; his daughter is missing; one little boy made his escape
from the savages, and came to the Ensign, who went immedi-
ately to the place with his party. But the Indians were gone,
and finding by their tracks which way they went, pursued them
to the house of one Nicholas Miller, where he found four chil-
dren murdered. Our party still pursued, and soon came up
with the enemy, and fired on them. They returned the fire;
but the soldiers rushed on them so furiously, that they soon ran
off and left behind them two prisoners, two tomahawks, one
hanger and a saddle — the Indians were eight in number, and
our party, seven. Three of the enemy were much wounded.
The two prisoners which our party wounded, were two of said
Miller's children, whom they had tied together, and so drove
them along. Miller's wife is missing — in all, there are eight
killed, and two missing in that neigl borhood.

I am, honored sir.
Your most obedient
Humble servant,

Jonas Seely.

This township is bounded on the north-east by the Schuyl-
kill river, separating it froin Bern and Alsace township; on the
south by Robeson township and Brecknock; south-west by
Lancaster county ; and on the north-w^est by Lower Heidelberg
township. The mean length and mean breadth, a httle more
than seven miles; and contains rising of thirty-one thousand
acres of land ; the surface variegated ; partly level and partly
hilly ; the soil diversified, gravel and limestone of excellent qual-
ity, and highly productive.

The Welsh mountain and Flying hill, in the southern part of
the township, are distinguished prominences, and give boldness

HISTORY OF EERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES^ 14^;

to the southern Lorders of Cumru. This township is well wa-
tered. Besides the Schuylkill and Tulpehocken, other streams,
such as the Cacoosing creek, Wymising, Angelica, and Flying
Hill run, afford w^ater power to propel the "gearings" of one
furnace, two forges, one fulling mill, twelve flouring mills, five
grist mills, and five saw mills.

There is also the Sinking Spring, near the Harrishurg turn-
pike, about five miles from Reading, which is quite a natural
curiosity to those who may not be familiar with the circum-
stances frequently attending large springs in a limestone region.
*' The water here rises and sinks again in the same basin, which
is very deep; thence finding its way again under ground, through
fissures and hidden caverns in the limestone rock, probably once
more to seek the light of day in some other place."

Near this spring is a village, deriving its name froiji the spring.
It contains fifteen or eicrhteen dwellijio; houses, one or two
taverns, and several stores, and a church held m common by
the German Reformed and Lutherans.

The county poor house — a "lordly palace" — is in this town-
ship, about three miles from Reading, upon Angelica Farm,
formerly the property of Governor Thomas Mif!iin.

The population in 1810, 2,017; 1820, 2,462; 1830, 2,705;
1840, 2,930. Horses 725; horned cattle 1,880; sheep 1,921;
.swine 2,178; bushels of wheat 33,535; rye 26,766; corn
34,997; oats 44,337; buckwheat 1,311; potatoes 13,451;
tons of hay 2,541 ; pounds of wool 1,993; flax 3,750. Whole
amount of valuation on all articles made taxable by law for
county purposes, for 1844, $1,138,900; whole amount of
county tax $2,277 80; State tax $1,316 66.

DISTRICT TOWNSHIP.

District township, is one of the north-western townships in
the county, and was settled primitively and principally by Ger-
mans, whose choice was among the hills, preferring this land
on account of the springs. In 1756, the following persons
were all taxables, and nearly all of whom were land holders :

George Hartlein, Conrad Arnold, Thomas Banfield, Jacob
Bush, Jeremiah Bacon, Israel Burget, John Barns, Frederick

142 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Potts, George Brown, Henry Dener, George Trust, Joshua
De La Plain, (Delaplain) George Dotterer, Nicholo Eis, Jacob
Bernhard, George Oyster, Jacob I^rey, Jacob Fridge, John
Fare, Jacob Grues, Bernhard Gembling, Jacob Hill, George
Hartline, Michael HolFraan, Michael Hartman, Andreas Hack-
er, Peter Hardraan, Lorentz Hauck, George Haltzlhech, Ste-
phen Hanch, Jacob Plard, Paul Hartman, Jacob Herb, Michael
Klein, John Kabron, George Koutz, Conrad Keim, Nicholas
Koutz, Adam Kildan, Geroge Klauser, George Lantz, George
Lintz, Tobias Manck, Jacob Mathias, Dietrich Mathias, Wm.
Mackey, S. Mayberry, John Moatzer, Peter Miller, John Mil-
ler, Wra. Miller, Henry Machanet, Frederick Mayer, Freder-
ick Martin, Andeas Norgang, Frantz Moser, John Reidenauer,
Michael Ptadicher, George Schall, William Stork, Jacob Stein-
brenner, Lawrence Sheeler, sen. and jr., George Stevenson,
Nicholas Schlister, Henry Schoerham, Valentine Schaetfer,
Adam Urich, Jacob Walter, Peter Weller, Philip Weismiller,
Casper Weisner, Jacob Schweitzer, George Adam Weidner,
Jacob Roth, Charles Weis, Christopher Schock, Michael Schuh-
raacher, Christian Brensinger, Samuel Oyster, Daniel Eyst,
John Cobron.

This to^^^^ship is bounded on the north by Long Swamp
township; east by Hereford &nd Washington; south by Pike,
and west by Rockland. Gi'eatest length four miles and a half,
and breadth about three and a half; containing rising of seven
thousand acres of land ;' the surface in many places very hilly ;
soil, gravel, and of rather, naturally, an inferior quality ; aver-
age value, when improved, not exceeding twenty-five dollars
per acre. The land is susceptible of greater improvement than
has been made. Pine creek and branch of Mahanatawny,
rises in this tow^nship, on which there is a furnace — there is one
forge, a grist mill, and a saw mill, in the towmship.

Population in 1830, 562; 1840, 583. Horses 187; horned
cattle 418; sheep 331; swine 300; bushels of wheat 1,572 ; rye
3,371; corn 3,845; oats 3,416; buckwheat 1,458; potatoes
2,946; tons of hay 392; pounds of wool 742; flax 379.—
w^hole amount of valuation on all articles made taxable by law,
for county purposes J$139,029 ; county tax $278,06 ; State
tax $160,63.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 143

DOUGLASS TOWNSHIP.

Douglass township had been organized prior to 1740 ; that
year it contained as many as fifty-eight taxables, and like Cole-
brook, was principally settled by Palatines.* Its early settlers
were alarmed by Indian skirmishes, mentioned in a preceding
page. In 1755, the following persons resided in this township:
Jacob Nagle, Daniel Wills, sen., Adam Miller, Henry Shom-
berger, Valentine Foght, Jacob David Hiser, Samuel Buzard,
Christian Kasebeer, sen., John Slice, Christian Wigle, Michael
Coglar, Michael Kaspotz, Yoakam Neglee, Valentine Keely,
George Hanselman, Philip Walter, sen., George Shadier Peter
Levengood, Peter Yoakam, Andrew Ringberry, Frederick
Wambach, Martin Nahr, Michael Holfman, Crhistian Shceler,
George Fritz, Andrew Huling, Derick Clever, Wm. Keepers,
Heroiiimus Spies, Leonard Hersger, John Keffer, ^Nicholas
Reem, Christian Conrad, Christian Bender, Geo. Geringer,
John Clows, Andrew Miller, James Bevin, Peter Sheener,
Philip Barthner, Simon Ringberry, Philip Hapelbaker, John
Potts, jr.

This township is bounded north by Colebrookdale ; east by
Montgomery county ; south by the Schuylkill river ; on the
•west by Amity and Earl township ; the greatest length, five
miles and a quarter, breadth two miles; contains seven thousand
acres of land — surface undulating — soil good — not very pro-
ductive. The Mahanatawny ci-eek passes through the south
ern part of it, on which there is a Pine forge. Iron Stone creek
divides the northern portion longitudinally, and nearly equally,
till it readies the Mahanatawny. The Philadelphia & Reading
turnpike, and the Railroad to Philadelphia, pass through the
southern ])art of it. There is a furnace, a forge, a fulling mill,
four grist mills, three saw mills and an oil mill, in this township.

Population in 1810, 660; 1820, 1,046; 1830, 1,210; 1840,
1,1 io. Horses 475 — horned cattle 754 — sheep 306 — swine
504— bushels of w^heat 3,115— rye 8,768— corn 10,445— oats
7,330— buckwheat 1,268— potatoes 2,131— tons of hay 794—
pounds of (lax 295 — wool 880. Whole amount of valuation
on all articles made taxable by law, for county purposes, for
1844, $282,212- county tax '8564 42— State tax 8342 31.
* Col. Rec. iii. 321.

144 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ELSACE, OR ALSACE TOWNSHIP.

Alsace township was named after the province from which
the first settlers had chiefly emigratedi They had come from
a French province, called Alsace, forming the departments of
the upper and lower Rhine. Among the first settlers were
some descendants of French Reformed or Huguenots, and
Swedes ; the latter were Lutherans. The greater part were
Germans. The following were returned as taxables by the as-
sessor in 1756. Some of them were Swedish Lutherans, others
descendants of Huguenots.*

Jacob Debery, Jacob Sheffer, John Urtistat, Michael Fischer,
John Ebling, Rudolph Gehrhart, Henry Ganet, Peter Smith,
John Haberacker, Samuel High, Nicholas Yost, Harry Schnei-
der, Baltzer Moone, John Schmeck, Harry Becker, Herman
De Haven, Christopher Spengler, Adam Garret, Adam Reifle,
Dewalt Baum, Nicholas Highshoo, Frederick Goodhart, George
Heyer, Peter Rothenberger, Philip Resser, John Lehmer, Ru-
dolph Schleer, Michael Glasser, Michael Seller, Jacob Lancis-
cus. Christian Kinsey, Adam Wagner, Baltzer Schwenck, Wil-
liam Noll, Casper Millhause, Adam Schwartzbach, Harry
Shillt, Jacob iJecker, Adam Bauman, Ernst Seitel, Conrad
Bobb, Conrad Keller, Isaac Levan,jr., Lorentz Wentzel, Geo.
Nees, Mathias Trenckel, Nicholas Kreisher, Jacob Heitschuh,
Dietrich Bettleman, Adam Wordenberger, Victor Spies, Henry
Bingeman, John Close, Richard Hockley, Jacob Boyler, Henry
Koch, Baltzer Marthew, Adam Eple, Mathias Knob, Christo-
pher Rodecker, George Wolf, Michael Spohn, George Sietz,
Michael Reitmayer, David Kinsey, Daniel Hargang, Michael
Shegtel, John Bingeman, Peter Fisher, Jonas Bauman, John
Schmeck, Henry Bauman, Adam Scheiirer, Nicholas Fisher,
George Rothenberger, Mathias Sauermilch, George May,

The present boundaries of this township, including the Bo-
rough of Reading, are as follows: On the north-west side by
Maiden creek township; on the north-east by Ruscommanor;
east by Oley and Exeter; and on the west by the river Schuyl-
kill. It contains about twenty-one thousand five hundred acres
of land. The surface of the eastern part of the township '

* See chapter iv., p. 80 ; and chapter v., p.

83.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 145

hilly and mountainous, embracing a great proportion of Perm's
mountain and Never Sink. The western part is somewhat undu-
lating— parts of it are level. A considerable proportion of the
township is limestone, and highly productive. The hilly parts
have, within the last fifteen years, been much improved, and
the cultivator is abundantly repaid for labor bestowed upon the
soil.

In the south-eastern part of the township, and within two
miles of Reading, is a chaybelate spring, well known as Kess-
ler's Spring. It is one of the most pleasant places of resort
during the heat of the summer, in the county. The lover of
the "■' rugged beauties" of nature, may regale himself in this
pleasant place of retreat, being in a secluded and highly roman-
tic gorge of Mount Penn. Many to while away ennui, resort
thither, — " and to sip the fluid of a rivulet which there precipi-
tates itself, sparkling and leaping down the ravine."

Under an excitement so prevalent in the late war — at every
rivulet to erect without adequate protection — a manufacturer,
Mr. Kessler, the venerated father of Charles Kessler, Esq.y of
Reading, established a woollen factory ; but it has since been
abandoned ; Jind the building is now used for other purposes —
a hotel, which is "so completely hedged by mountains, and well
shaded with original forest trees, as to be almost entirely screened
from the influence of the sun, and is ten or fifteen degrees
cooler in summer than the open country around. A house,
and various works designed for the comfort and entertainment
of visiters, are kept in excellent repair — and present no ordina-
ry attractions."

During the Revolution of '76, a number of British prisoners
had taken lodgings near Kessler's Spring. " A body of Hes-
sian prisoners, captured at Trenton in 1776, together with
many British, and the principal Scotch Royalists, subdued and
taken in North Carolina, were brought to Reading, and sta-
tioned in a grove on the bank of the river Schuylkill, in the
south part of the borough. In the fall of the same year, they
were removed to the hill, east of the town, v,'hich is called the
Hessian Camp to this day. There they remained some time,
and built themselves huts m regular camp order, the greater
part of which may be seen at the present day."*

Among the prisoners of war at Reading, July 16, 1777,
* Stahle's Description of Reading, p. 64.

13

146

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES!,

were the following : Major Allen M'Donald, taken at Moore's
creek, North Carolina, March 2d, 1776 ; Lieutenant Alexan-
der M'Donald and_Major James Hepburn, all taken at the same
time and place.

Captain Duncan Nicol, of Royal Highlanders, or Regiment
of emigrants. Lieutenant Hugh Frasier, Captain John Sattut,
of the fourteenth British Regiment, and Lieutenant Christopher
Foster of the fifty-fifth Regiment, and Lieutenant James Will-
son, of the same Regiment, Lieutenant John Cameron, of the
seventy-first Regiment, Lieutenant Simon Wilmot, of Light
Dragoons, James Forster, master of a transport ship, and Jolm
Wilkinson, mate of the same, Samuel Elphinston and James
Horns, mates of a British ship of war, Allan McDonald, Ran-
nold McDonald, and Archibald McDonald, taken in New York,
Thomas Leonard, of Monmouth county, New Jersey, and John
Duyckunck, of Brunswick.

Some of the British prisoners had servants who were not
prisoners. Among these was one, a negro who called himself
Richard Barley, who attended on Lieutenant Wilmot — it was
thought the negro was a runaway.

The following is a copy from an original MSS. letter, before
me, addressed to the committee for the care of prisoners of war
at Reading.

March 16, 1777.
Gentlemen —

By direction of the late Council of Safety, now the Board of
War, I enclose you a copy of Lieutenant Simon Wilmot's pa-
role ; he is to set out to-morrow, under the conduct of Lieute-
nant Boehm, of the City Guards.

I am, gentlemen, your very obedient servant,

Lewis Nicola, Town Major,

Besides Kessler's spring, other streams have their sources
from Perm's mountain, such as Roush's creek, upon which are
several mills. The small tributaries of Dry run, and other
smaller streams, one of which supplies the Reading reservoir,
near the head of Penn street.

Iron ore is abundant — Mount Penn alone contains an inex-
haustible quantity.

This township is intersected by the turnpike from Philadel-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 147

phia to Pottsville, which passes through the western part, and
Ijy that which passes from Reading to Harrisburg. The
Schuylkill canal, and the railroad from Philadelphia to Potts-
ville, both pass through Alsace.

There are, besides the churches in the borough of Reading,
two churches in this township; Alsace church, about two miles
from Reading, and Spies' church in the north-east angle of the
township — both common to the German Reformed and Luth-
erans. It contains two fulling mills, four grist mills, and three
saw mills. The population of Alsace township, exclusive of
Reading, was in 1810, 1,275; 1820, 1,640; 1830, 1,943;
1840, 2,501. Of these there were 1,245 males, 1,256 females.
Horses 214; horned cattle 624 ; sheep 409; swine 658; bushels
of wheat 8,113; rye 6,196; corn 6,220; oats 8,094; buck-
wheat 307; potatoes 3,742 ; tons of hay 820 ; pounds of wool
230; flax 725. Whole amount of valuation on all articles
made taxable, for county purposes, for 1844, $686,220 ; county
tax $1,372 46; State tax $889,56.

Reading is on the east bank of the Schuylkill,* and about
fifty-two miles from both metropolis and capital of the State.
The following sketch of the primitive settlement, and early his-
tory of Reading, is from the pen of Daniel R. Keim, Esq.,
and was originally published in the Ladies^ Garland, for Feb-
ruary, 1839.

"As early as 1733, warrants were taken out by John and
Samuel Finney, and four hundred and fifty acres of land sur-
veyed under their sanction, which are now entirely embraced
within the hmits of Reading. Whether the inducements to this
selection were other than its general beauty and fertility, it is
now difficult to say, though it is asserted that when the Pro-
prietaries, John and Richard Penn, became aware of its advan-
tages, and proposed to re-purchase for the location of a town,
the Messrs. Finney long and firmly resisted all the efforts of
negotiation. This produced a momentary change in the design
of the Proprietaries, as they employed Richard Hockley to
survey and lay out the plan of a town on the maigin of the
Schuylkill, oppositeits confluence with the Tulpehocken. This

* Schuylkill, Schuil-kill, or Skoal-kill, i. e. hidden-creek, or channel-^
the native Indians called' this stream Manijunk^ according to a Swedisi^
Wi'^.—Proiul ii., p. 251.

148 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANt)N COUNTIES.

survey is still to be found on record, though divested of any
date or name by which the precise period in which it was made
can be ascertained. It is now only known as an appended
portion to Reading, under the designation of the ' Hockley Out-
Lots.'

" The importance as well as the reality of the design, now
appears to have subdued the objections of the Finneys to the
sale of their claim, as they immediately relaxed in their de-
mands, and finally yielded them to the proprietaries, who at
once caused the ' Hockley plot' to be abandoned, and in the fall
of the year 1748, that of Reading to be laid out.

" The difficulty in obtaining water, even at great depths,
through the limestone, was the specious reason generally as-
signed for the sudden vacation of the former site, as the new
one was remarkable for the numerous large and copious springs
existing within its limits.

" Thus, Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietaries and gover-
nors in chief of the province of Pennsylvania, became privatci
owners of the ground plot of Reading, the lots of which they
carefully subjected in their titles to an annual quit or ground
rent. Singular as it may seem, this claim became almost for-
gotten through neglect, and the circumstances that resulted
from the change in the old order of things produced by the re-
volution; indeed, when recurred to at all, it was generally be-
lieved to have become a forfeit to the State, by the nature of
that event. But a few years ago it was revived by the heirs,
and its collection attempted under the authority of the law;
but so excited were the populace, and adverse to the payment
of its accumulated amount, that it was generally, and in some
cases, violently resisted, till the deliberations of a town meet-
ing had suggested measures, leaning to a more direct, amicable
and permanent compromise.

" Like most of the primitive towns of the State, Reading is
indebted for its name, as also for the county in which it is sit-
uated, to the native soil of the Penn's.

" Its area comprises about 2,194 acres of a rich calcareous
soil, sloping gently from Penn's Mount, an elevation on its
eastern side, to the river Schuylkill; thus presenting natural
facilities for its drainage, and the prevention of accumulated
filth, and adding a decided feature to its well-established cha-
racter for health.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIEO. ±'40

" The streets intersect each other at right angles, and form
in their direction almost correct indices to the cardinal points
of the compass. Their original names were retained to a very
recent date, (Aug. 6, 1833,) and were characteristic of the
loyalty of the proprietary feeling, as well as family attachment
and regard.

" King, Queen, Prince, Duke, Earl, and Lord streets, suffi-
ciently evidence the strength of the former, whilst the main or
central streets, Penn and Callowhill, are as distinctly indicative
offihal regard.

" Hannah Callowhill, their mother^ was the second wife of
William Penn, and had issue beside Thomas and Richard, of
John, Margaret and Dennis, whence also had originated the
names of Thomas, Margaret, and Richard streets. Hamilton
street, from. James Hamilton, Esq., who was Deputy Governor
of the Province at that period.

" The names now substituted 'as more compatible with the
republican simplicity of our present form of government,' are
similar to those of Philadelphia, as the streets running north
and south commence at Water street, on the Schuylkill, and
extend to Twelfth street, while those running cast and west
are called Penn, Franklin, Washington, Chestnut and Walnut
streets.

" In 1751, Reading contained 130 dwelhng houses, besides
stables and other buildings — 106 families, and 378 inhabitants,
though about two years before it had not above one house
in it.

The original population was principally Germans, who emi-
grated from Wurtemberg, and the Palatinate, though the ad-
ministration of pubhc affairs was chiefly in the hands- of the
Friends.

" The former by their preponderance of number, gave tiie
decided character in habits and language to the place, as the
German was alm>cst exclusively used in the ordinary transac-
tions of life and business, and is yet retained to a very great
extent."

As late as 1754, bears were still plenty in the vicinity of
Reading. From an extract of a letter dated at Reading, Sept..
22, 1754, to a gentleman in Philadelphia, it would appear so,
"The bears were never half so numerous as now: voueaE..

13-

150 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

scarce go a mile without seeing one. Several of them have
been killed near this town lately." — Phil. Gazette, 1754.

The following were returned by the assessor in 1757, as
taxables of the town of Reading:

Adam Geier, Andreas Fighthorn, Adam Eppler, Adam Ege,
Abraham Smith, Andreas Engle, Alexai.viei ivlinger, Abraham
Kerber, Anthony Fricker, Adam Widman, Adam Fas, Adam
Schlegle, Adam Wirenberger, Adam Brosius, Eastian Krauser,
Bernhard Rhorbauch, Benjamin Pearson, Baltzer Sneyder,
Baltzer Henning, Baltzer Meuerlin, Conrad Weiser, Esq., Con-
rad Bower, Christopher Lehman, Conrad Braun, Conrad Dress,
Christian Samet, Christopher Smid, Conrad Reichstein, Chris-
tian Banse, Christian Merchel, Conrad Stichler, Conrad Nei-
hard, David Henderson, David Meuerlen, David Schreck,
Henry Aaun, Dorst Phister, Erst Maurer, Edward Drury,
Erhard Rose, Eberhard Martin, Amos Evans, Evan Price,
Francis Wenrich, Frederick Miller, Frederick Perlet, Francis
Gibson, Frederick Zinn, George Diehl, George Bernhard,
George Yoe, George Deible, George Springer, George Jock,
George Handschuh, Gottlieb Strohecker, George Heist, Ga-
briel Schop, George Geisler, George Schultz, George Sourbry,
George Wunder, George Stump, Henry Dosselbauer, Henry
Gulhard, Henry Ruhl, Henry Wolf, Henry Gossler, Henry
Degenhard, Henry Rightmeyer, Henry Singer, Henry Hahn,
Isaac Wickersham, John Schorb, John Sweitzer, Jacob Lutz,
Joseph Henck, John Smith, Jacob Kern, Jacob Fisher, Joseph
Sharaon, John Richner, James Keemer, Jacob Rabold, John
Schneider, Jacob Hettler, Jacob Dehn, Israel Jacobs, Jacob
Yaeger, Jacob Bucher, John Dengler, John Gross, John Wea-
ber, John Henrich, John Jacobs, John Lebo, John Schried,
Jacob Leybrock, James Read, Esq., Jacob Balde, Isaiah Ris,
John Wideman, Joseph BrintUnger, John Bertolet, John Koch,
John Eisenbeis, John Bernheisel, Jacob i^lagle, John Morge,
Isaac Young, John Hardman, Joseph Ritner, Joseph Perret,
Julius Kerber, Jacob Dick, John Philippi, John Kurtz, Henry
Kraft, Ludwig Weidman, Ludwig Ember, Leonard Spang, Lo-
rentz Fix, Michael Reitmoyer, Michael Brecht, Martin Kast,
Michael Seister, Michael Hag, Michael Fedder, Mathias Fei-
gle, Mathias Mayer, Michael Rosch, jr., Michael Rosch, senr.,
Martin Ege, Michael Spaz, Mathias Bonhman, Mathias Hein-.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 151

lein, Michael Fichthorn, Nicholas Seysinger, Nicholas Gods-
chalk, Nichojas Morris, Nicholas Schabert, Nicholas Neidle,
Nicholas Keiin, Philip Weis, Philip Smith, Peter Loch, Philip
Nagle, Philip Sehler, Peter Feder, Peter Dehm, Peter Weiser,
Peter Kleim, Peter Haas, Peter Ivlinger, Philip Mayor, Peter
Baum, Phihp Marselaaf, Paul Perlet, Philip Phising, Samuel
Hush, Stophel Widman, Samson Mitelberger, Samuel Shultz,
StophelNeidley, Simon Nagle, Stophel Mileisen,Thomas Dehm,
Thomas Lincoln, Valentine Kerper, Valentine Urledig, William
Reiser, WilUam Clues, William Iddings, WilHarn Max, William
Orman, William Ermel, William Miller, Huttenstein, William
Frick, William Koch, Williani Gress, William Miller, Wolfgang*
Haga, Jacob Bulkert, Martin Young, Martin Kraft, Andrew-
Smith, Samuel Weiser, David Rine, Henry Whitman, John Sour-
milk, James Whitehead, Benjamin Lightfoot, Nathan Lyon,
James Starr, Robert Popkin, Isaac Lebo, Samuel Jackson,
Thomas Barcher, Elijah Pearson, Michael Scherchtoly.

During the French and Lulian war, the inhabitants were oc-
casionally alarmed on account of the Indians, [See chap, iii.,
pp. 47, 50, 54.] Their hopes and fears, owing to the alliance
between the Indians and French, and conduct of some inhabi-
tants among them, were often excited, as will appear from the
following public documents:

To THE Hon. Gov. Morris,*

Sir : — As all our Protestant inhabitants are very uneasy at
the behavior of the Roman Catholics, who are very numerous,
in this county, some of whom show great joy at the very bad
news lately from the army,t we thought it our duty to inform
your honor of our dangerous situation, and to beg your honor
to enable us by some legal authority to disarm or otherwise to
disable the papists from doing injury to other peo})le who are
not of their vile principles. We know that the people of the
Roman Catholic church are bound by their principles to be the
worst subjects and worst of neighbors ; and we have reason to
fear, at this time, that the Roman Catholics in Cussahoppen,
where they have a very magnificent chapel, and lately have
had large processions, have bad designs; for in the neighbor-
hood of that chapel, it is reported, and generally believed, that

* Provincial Records, N. p. 125.
t Alluding, to Braddock's defeat.

152 HISTORY OF BERKS AKD LEBANON- C0UNTIE3-.

thirty Indians are now lurking, well armed with guns anJ
swords, or cutlasses. The priest at Reading, as well as Cu£-
sahoppen, last Sunday gave notice to their people, that they
could not come to them again in less than nine weeks, whereas
they constantly preach once in four weeks to their congrega-
tions ; whereupon some imagine, they are gone to consult with
our enemies at Du Quesne. It is a great unhappiness, at this
time, to the other people of this province, that the papists
should keep fire arms in their houses, agaitist which the pro-
testants are not prepared, who, therefore, are subject to a mas-
sacre whenever the papists are ready. We pray that your
Honor would direct us in this important business, by the bearer,
whom we have sent express to your honor.

We are, may it please your honor,

Your honor's most obedient servants,
Henry Harvey,
James Read,
William Bird,
Jonas Seely,
Conrad Weiser,
Justices of Berks County.
Heidelberg, July 23, 1755.

This excitement was not only among the inhabitants of
Berks — but the people of Northampton had strong objections
to the Cathohcs about the same time.

'•' To the Worshipful, the Justices of the Court of General
Quarter Sessions of the Peace, held at Easton, for the county
of Northampton, the ISth June, 1755.

"The petition of divers inhabitants of said town and others,
humbly showeth : — That your petitioners are very apprehensive
your worships have been greatly imposed upon, in granting
recommendations to his honor, the governor, for sunchy Ro-
man Catholics, out of legiance of his present majesty, our most
gracious sovereign, for keeping public house, in this town, when
an open rupture is now daily expected between a Roman Catho-
lic powerful and perfidious prince, and the crown of Great Bri-
tain; as the Romans have thereby a better opportunity of be-
coming acquainted with our designs against them, and thereby-
better enabled to discover those designs and render them abor-
tive.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 15S

" Your petitioners therefore pray, that your honors will
make proper inquiry into this matter, and grant such redress as
the circumstances of things may require; and your petitioners
will ever pray, &c.

"John Fricker, a Catholic applicant, was then refused a re-
commendation, because he was a Roman Catholic."

Time has tested the grounds of the suspicions of those op-
posed to Catholics- Facts settle doubts, and remove or con-
hrra prejudices. The current is still strong against them. They
induce it by their importunities for office, and their consequent
success, naturally engenders these feelings against them; espe-
cially among the Germans against the Irish portion of them.
The blustering and swaggering of some at the polls, are offensive,
not only to Germans, but to all true Americans; and the day
is not distant, when an end must be put to these encroachments
for the safety and permanency of our free institutions. A
general diffusion of knowledge is the only remedy.

During the revolution of "76, Reading was resorted to by
Philadelphians, and a place equally safe from the dangers to
which the metropolis was more exposed, as a place of retire-
ment from the political commotions of the city. Alexander
Graydon, born at Bristol, April 10, 1752, and who had been
taken prisoner at New York, but while on parole visited his
mother, who had removed her residence to Reading, gives some
interesting incidents by way of reminiscences of his stay here,
in 1777.

In his Memoirs, page 263, he says, " My mother, as already
mentioned, having removed her residence to Reading, thither,
in company with the lady so often adverted to, whose family
was also established there, we proceeded in high spirits.

"A'lany other Philadelphians had recourse to this town, as a
place of safety from a sudden incursion of the enemy; and,
among a score or more of fugitive families, were those of Gen.
Mif!lin and my uncle, as I have called Mr. Biddle, though only
standing in that relation by marriage.

"It was also the station assigned to a number of prisoners,
both British and German, as well as of the principal Scotch
royalists, that had been subdued and taken m North Carolina.
I soon discovered that a material change had taken place

154 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

(luring my absence from Pennsylvaiiia; and that the pulses of
many, that at the time of my leaving it, had beaten high in the
cause of whigism and liberty, were consiilerably lowered.
Power, to use a language which had already ceased to be or-
thodox, and could therefore only be whispered, had fallen into
low hands: The better sort were disgusted and weary of the
war. Congress, indeed, bad given out that they had counted
the cost of the contest ; but it was but too apparent, that very
many of their adherents, had made false calculations on the
subject, having neither allowed enough for disasters in the field,
nor domestic chagrins, the inevitable consequence of a dissolu-
tion of old power and the assumption of new. It was, in fact,
just beginning to be perceived, that the ardor of the inflamed
multitude is not to be tempered ; and that the instigators of
revolutions are rarely those who are destined to conclude them,
or profit by them.

The great cause of schism among the whigs, had been the
declaration of independence. Its adoption had, of course, ren-
dered numbers malcontent ; and thence, by a very natural tran-
sition, consigned them to the tory ranks. Unfortunately for
me, this was the predicament in which I found my nearest and
best friend, whose example had no doubt contributed to the
formation of my political opinions, and whose advice, concur-
ring with my own sense of duty, had placed me in the army.
I now discovered, that we no longer thought or felt alike; and
though no rupture took place, some coldness ensued^ and I have
to regret a few words of asperity which passed between us, on
occasion of the French alliance. But this was but a momen-
tary blast; as neither of us was affected with that hateful bi-
gotry, which too generally actuated whigs and tories, and led
to mutual persecution, as one or other had the ascendancy.

As to the whigs, the very cause for which they contended, was
essentially that of freedom, and yet all the freedom it granted
was, at the peril of tar and feathers, to think and act like them--
selves, the extent indeed of all toleration proceeding from the
multitude, whether advocating the divine right of a king, the
divine sovereignty of the people, or of the idol it may be pleased
to constitute its unerring plenipotentiary. Toleration is only
to be looked for upon points in which men are indifferent, or
where they are duly checked and restrained, by a, salutary au-
thority.

lilSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANOJJ COUNTIES. iO'5

Mr. Edward Biddle, then in a declining state of health, and
-no longer in Congress, apparently entertained sentiments not
accordant with the measures pursuing; and in the fervid style
of elocution, for which he was distinguished, he often exclaim-
ed, that he really knew not what to wish for. " The subjuga-
tion of my country," he would say, "I deprecate as a most
grievous calamity, and yet sicken at the idea of thirteen, un-
connected, petty democracies ; if we are to be independent, let
us, in the name of God, at once have an empire, and place
Washington at the head of it."*

Fortunately for our existence as a nation, a great proportion
of those, whose early exertions tended to that issue, were not
aware of the price by which it was to be acquired ; otherwise,
ray knowledge of the general feeling at this time, so far as my
means of information extended, obliges me to say, that it would
not have been achieved. Not that disgust and despondence
were universal among the leading and best informed whigs, but
an equal proportion of disaffection to independence, in the early
part of the year 1776, must have defeated the enterprize. Still,
it may be observed, that as whigism declined among the high-
er classes, it increased in the inferior ; because they who com-
posed them, thereby obtained power and consequence. Uni-
forms and epaulets, with militia titles and paper money, making
numbers of persons gentlemen who had never been so before,
kept up every where throughout the country, the spirit of op-
position ; and if these w^ere not real patriotism, they were very
good substitutes for it. Could there, in fact, be any compari-
son between the condition of a daily drudge in agricultural or
mechanic labor, and that of a spruce, militia-man, living with-
out work, and, at the same time, having plenty of continental
dollars in his pocket I How could he be otherwise than well
effected to such a cause I

The success of General Howe ; the loss of Philadelphia ; as
well as the ground given in the northern quarter by the retreat
of General St. Clair, were amply counterbalanced by the utter
extinction of Burgoyne's army, on the 15th of October. As

* I have presumed to put in the wrong, those who were adverse to the
declaration of independence; and the high ground on which we have since
stood, fully justified me : but present appearances seem again to unsettle
the question, in the minds of those at least who are heterodox enough to
doubt the eligibility of a dependence oa France.

156 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES'.

Reading lay in the route from Saratoga to Yorktown, where
Congress was now assembled, we received, before that body,
the particulars of this glorious event, from Major Wilkinson,
who was charged with the despatches of General Gates. But
without loading ray memoirs with obvious and trite reflections
on this memorable occurrence, I turn a moment to myself, to
observe: That were I prey to the vulture of ill-star'd ambition,
the mention of a gentleman-, with whom I commenced in th'e
same rank, my military career, and who is now in the chief
commands of the American force, might suggest, somewhat
unpleasantly, the immeasurable distance he has left me behind ;
but the recollections his name awakens with infinitely more in-
terest, are of a nature wholly different. They relate to pur-
suits and occupations of a character more congenial to that sea-
son of life, when, as a student of physic, he attended medical
lectures in Philadelphia, before either of us wore a uniform,
and before a foundation was laid for tlie many strifes which
have since ensued. Thus much, without connecting him with
any of them, I freely pay to the remembrance of an early
friendship, ever renewed when casualities have brought us to-
gether, maugre the enstranging influence of different party ^asso-
ciations.

The ensuing winter, at Reading, was gay and agreeable,
notwithstanding that the enemy was in possession of the metro-
|)olis. The society was sutticiently large and select; and a
sense of common suffering in being driven from their homes,
had the effect of more closely uniting its members. Disasters
of this kind, if duly weighed, are not grievously to be deplored^
The variety and bustle they bring along with them, give a
spring to the mind ; and when illumined by hope, as was now
the case, they are, when present, not painful, and when past,
they are among the incidents most pleasing in retrospection.
Besides the families established in this place, it was seldom with-
out a number of visiters, gentlemen of the army, and others.
Hence the dissipation of cards, sleighing parties, balls, &c., was
freely indulged. General Mifflin, at this era, was at home, a
chief out of war, complaining, though not ill, considerably mal-
content, and apparently, not in high favor at head-quarters.
According to him, the ear of the commander-in-chief was ex-
clusively possessed by Greene, who was represented to be
neither the most wise, the most brave, nor most patriotic of

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 157

counsellors. In short, the campaign in this quarter, was stig-
matised as a series of blunders; and the incapacity of those who
had conducted it, unsparingly reprobated.

The better fortune of the northern army, was ascribed to the
superior talents of its leader; and it began to be whispered,
that Gates was the man who should, of right, have the station
so incompetently sustained by Washington. There was, to all
appearance, a cabal forming for his deposition, in which, it is
not improbable, that Gates, Mifflin and Conway, were already
engaged ; and, in which, the congenial spirit of Lee, on his ex-
change, immediately took a share. The well known apostro-
phe of Conway to America, importing " that Heaven had
passed a decree in her favor, or her ruin must long before have
ensued, from the imbecility of her military counsels," was, at
tliis time, familiar at Reading; and I heard him myself, when
he was afterwards on a visit to that place, express himself to
that effect: *' That no man was more a gentleman than Gen-
eral Washington, or appeared to more advantage at his table,
or in the usual intercourse of Hfe ; but as to his talents for the
command of an army, (with a French shrug,) they were miser-
able indeed." Observations of this kind, continually repeated,
could not fail to make an impression within the sphere of their
circulation; and it may be said, that the popularity of the com-
mander in chief, was a good deal impaired at Reading. As to
myself, however, I can confidently aver, that I never was pro-
selyted ; or gave into the opinion for a moment, that any man
in America, was worthy to supplant the exalted character, that
presided in her army.

I might have been disposed, perhaps, to believe that such
talents as were possessed by Lee, could they be brought to act
subordinately, might often be useful to him ; but I ever thought
it would be a fatal error, to put any other in his place. Nor
was I the only one, who forbore to become a. partizan of
Gates. Several others thought they saw symptoms of selfish-
ness in the business; nor could the great eclat of the northern
campaign, convince them, that its hero was superior to Wash-
ington. The duel which afterwards took place between Gen-
erals Conway and Cadvvalader, though immediately proceeding
from an unfavorable opinion expressed by the latter, of the
conduct of the former at Germantown, had perhaps a deeper
origin, and some reference to this intrigue; as I had the mean£

158 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

of knowing, that General Cadwalader, suspecting Mifflin had
instigated Conway to fight him, was extremely earnest to ob-
tain data from a gentleman who lived in Reading, whereon to
ground a serious explanation with Mifflin. [Not that Gener-
al Cadwalader was induced from the intrigue to speak unfa-
vorably of General Conway's behavior at Gerraantown. That
of itself, was a sufficient ground of censure. Conway, it seems,
during the action, was found in a farm-house by Generals Reed
and Cadwalader. Upon their enquiring the cause, he replied,
in great agitation, that his horse was wounded in the neck. —
Being urged to get another horse, and at any rate to join his
brigade which was engaged, he declined it, repeating that his
horse was wounded in the neck. Upon Conway's applyino- to
Congress, some time after, to be made a major general, and
earnestly urging his suit, Cadwalader made known this con-
duct of his at Germantown; and it was for so doing, that Con-
way gave the challenge, the issue of which, was, his beino- dan-
gerously wounded in the face from the pistol of General Cad-
walader. He recovered, however, and some time after went to
France.] So much for the manoeuvring, which my location at
one of its principal seats, brought me acquainted with ; and
which, its authors were soon after desirous of burying in ob-
livion.

Among the persons, who, this winter, spent much time in
Reading, was one Luttiloe, foreigner, who was afterwards ar-
rested in London on suspicion of hostile designs ; also, Mr^
William Duer, who either was, or lately had been, a member
of Congress. His character is well known. He was of the
dashing cast, a man of the world, confident and animated, with
a promptitude in displaying the wit and talents he possessed,
with very little regard to the decorum, which either time or
place imposed. Of this, he gave an instance one day, at Mr.
Edward Biddle's, which, had it been on a theatre, where the
royal cause was predominant, I should have relished it : as it
was, it was unpleasant to me.

Captain Speke, of the British army, a prisoner, was present,
with his eye on a newspaper, several of which had lately come
out of Philadelphia, when Duer, taking up another, began to
read aloud, commenting with much sarcasm on the paragraphs
as he went along. Speke bore it a good while, but at length
Duer's remarks became so pinching, that he was roused to a

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 159

reply. To this he received a ready rejoinder, and a warm al-
tercation was on the point of taking place, when captain Speke
prudently took the resolution of relinquishing the field; and
taking up his hat, abruptly retired. As Speke, although a
thorough Englishman, was a well bred man, with whom 1 had
become acquainted, and had exchanged some civilities, I was
not a little hurt at this circumstance, as the company in gener-
al seemed to be.

Duer, for his part, triumphed in his success, displaying a
heart, which, however bold on the safe side of the lines, might
nevertheless have been sufnciently meek on the other ; at least,
such a conduct would but conform to the result of my obser-
vations on persons who play the bashaw in prosperity ; and I
beUeve it is pretty generally agreed, to be no mark of game to
crow upon a dunghill. While upon the subject of Captain
Speke, I will finish the little I have to say of him. He be-
longed, if my recollection does not fail me, to the same regi-
ment with Mr. Eecket ; at least, he was acquainted with him,
and told me had heard him speak of me. He was young and
Hvely, with an addiction to that sly significance of remark,
characteristic both of his profession and his nation; and which
may be pardoned, when accompanied with good humor. Tak-
ing up my hat one day, when at his quarters to take coffee
with him and one or two others of his fellow prisoners, he ob-
served, that it was a very decent one, which is more, said he,
than I can say of those generally worn by the officers of your
array; they have precisely, what we call in England, the
da7nn my eyes cock. At another time, having called ispon me
at ray mother's, I was led by some circumstance, to advert to
the awkward form and low ceiling of the room; but ''faith,"
said he, looking round, " you have made the most of it with
furniture ;" which was true enough, as it was umnercifully over-
loaded with chairs, tables and family pictures.

Such freedoms may fully justify me in scanning Mr. Speke,
who, to say the truth, was, in point of information, far above
the level which is allowed to the gentlemen of the British army,
by Swift and other writers of their nation. As to "your JVo-
veds, and Blutarks, and Omars and stuff," I know not, if he
was of the noble captain's opinion, in Hannah's animated plea
for turning Hamilton's bawn into a barrack; but he had read
gome of the English poets; and speaking of Prior and Pope, 1

160 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

remember his saying, that the former was much preferred to
the latter, by people of taste in England. But grant what we
may to the sprightliness and easy gaiety of Prior, this can
hardly be the award of sound criticism. Being heartily tired
of the condition, Mr. Speke was extremely anxious to get rid
of it, and to this effect suggested, that by mutual exertion, we
might be exchanged for each other. He said that if I could
obtain permission for him to go to Philadelphia on parole, he
had no doubt of having sufficient interest to effect it. I accord-
ingly took the liberty to write to General Washington on the
subject, but was a long time in suspense as to the success of
my application. An additional inducement to the step, was,
that both Colonel Miles, and Major West, had by requisition
of General Howe, repaired to Philadelphia; and I every day
expected a similar summons.

It had been given out that these gentlemen had not observed
all the passiveness which had been enjoined upon them by their
parole ; and I well knew that I was charged with a like trans-
gression. I spoke freely, it is true, of the treatment of pri-
soners; and this was considered by the tories and some of the
British officers in our hands, as very unpardonable in one who
had been favored as I had been; and I was aware that I was
threatened with a retraction of the indulgence. I remained,
however, unmolested. The situation of Miles and West in the
neighborhood of the army at White Marsh, was, perhaps, the
circumstance which gave color to the accusation against them;
but they were not lono^ detained.

Besides, that it would have ill comported with the indul-

fence I enjoyed, it was abhorrent to my feelings, to behave
aughtUy to a prisoner. There were two puppies, however,
in that predicament, in whom I immediately recognised the in-
solent manner of a genuine scoundrel in red; and these, I cautious-
ly avoided. They were subalterns; one of whom, of the name
of Wilson, was base enough, under the false pretence of being
related to Captain Wilson, who he had some how learned,
had treated me with civility, to borrow a few guineas of my
mother, which it unluckily slipped his memory to repay. Had
I been aware of the application, the loan would have been pre-
vented ; but I never knew of the circumstance, until after his
exchange.

With the exception of these fellows, who, I had the mortifi-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 161

cation to hear, had found their way to Gen. Washington's table,
at the time of their being taken, all the prisoners in Reading
behaved with much decency. Among them, were a number of
German officers, who had really the appearance of being, what
we call, downright men. There was a Major Stine, a Captain
Sobbe, and a Captain Wetherholt, of the Hessians, whom I
sometimes fell in with.

There were several others, with whom I was not acquainted,
and whose names I do not remember. One old gentleman, a
Colonel, was a great professional reader, whom, on his applica-
cation, I accommodated with such books of the kind, as I had.
Another of them, a very portly personage, apparently replete
with national phlegm, Avas, nevertheless, enthusiastically de-
voted to music, in which he was so absorbed, as seldom to go
abroad. I did not know this musical gentleman, except by
sight; but I have understood from those who did, that call upon
him at what time they would, and, like another Achilles in re-
tirement,

Amus'd at ease, the godlike man they found.
Pleas'd with the solemn harp's harmonious sound :

For this was the obsolete instrument, from which he extracted
the sounds that so much delighted him. But of all the pri-
soners, one Graff, a Brunswick ofiicer taken by General Gates's
army, was admitted to the greatest privileges. Under the pa-
tronage of Dr. Potts, who had been principal surgeon in the
northern department, he had been introduced to our dancing
parties; and being always afterwards invited, he never failed
to attend. He was a young man of mild and pleasing manners,
with urbanity enough to witness the little triumphs of parly,
without being incited to ill humor by them. Over hearing a
dance called for, one evening, which we named Burgoyne^s
surrender, he observed to his partner, that it was a very pretty
dance, notwithstanding the name; and that General Burgoyne
himself would be happy to dance it in such good company.
There was also a Mr. Stutzoe, of the Brunswick dragoons,
than whose, I have seldom seen a figure more martial, or a
manner more indicative of that manly openness, which is sup-
posed to belong to the character of a soldier. I had a shght
acquaintance with him; and recollect with satisfaction, his call-
ing on me at the time of his exchange, to make me his acknow -

14*

162 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBAWOIf COUNTIES.

ledgments, as he was pleased to say, for my civilities to the
prisoners.

Perhaps I may be excused for these trifling details, when it
it is considered, that they serve to mark the temper of the times,
and to shew, that they were not all fire and fury, as certain
modern pretenders to the spirit of seventy-six, have almost per-
suaded us they were. It ought to be granted, indeed, that an
equal degree of toleration, was not every where to be met wjth.
It would scarcely have been found in that description of per-
sons, which soon arrogated, and have since voted themselves
the exclusive possession of all the patriotism in the nation.
Even that small portion of the monopolists which resided at
Reading, revolted at a moderation they did not understand;
and all who were less violent and bigoted than themselves,
were branded as tories. All the families which had removed
from Philadelphia were involved in this reproach; and, in their
avoidance of the enemy to the manifest injury of their affairs,
they were supposed to exhibit proofs of disafiection. Nor was
I much better off: my having risked myself in the field was
nothing: I should have staid at heme, talked big, been a mili-
tia-man, and hunted tories.

In confirmation of my remark, that toleration was not among
the virtues affected by those who were emphatically styled the
people, I will instance the case of a young Scotch officer of the
name of Dunlap, who was one day beset in the street, by cer-
tain persons overflowing with whigism; and, for presuming to
resent the insults he received from them, was not only cudgelled,
but afterwards put to jail. This treatment might have fairly
squared with that of our officers from the royal side, in relation
to the fish sellers; though I will undertake to aver, that, gene-
rally speaking, the prisoners in our hands were treated both
with lenity and generosity. Some time after this affray, hap-
pening, at a table, in Philadelphia, to be placed by the side of
Doctor Witherspoon, then a member of Congress, I took occa-
sion to mention it to him, and to inteicede for his good offices
in regard to the libeiation of Dunlap, who was still in jail.

I counted something upon the national spirit, supposed to be
so prevalent among ISorth Eritons; and yet more, upon the
circumstance of knowing from Dunlap and two other young
Scotchmen, his fellow prisoners, that Doctor Witherspoon had
been well acquainted with their families. I did not find, how-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 163

ever, that the doctor was much melted to compassicn for the
mishap of his countryman, as he contented himself with coldly
observing, that if I could suggest any substantial ground for
him to proceed upon, he would do what he could for the young
man.

It appeared to me that enough had been suggested, by my
simple relation of the facts; and I had nothing more to offer.
But whether or not my application was of any benefit to its
object, my presentation of the laddies to the recollection of the
doctor, seemed to have something of national interest in it; and
had the effect, to incite him to a shrewd remark, accordino- to
his manner. He told me he had seen the young men soon after
they had been taken, and was surprised to find one of them,
whose name I forgot, so much of a cub. His father, said he,
was a very sprightly fellow, when I knew him. This lad is
the fruit of a second marriage; and I immediately concluded,
when I saw him, said the doctor, that Jeramey, or Sawney
something, mentioning the father's name, had taken some clumsy
girl to wife, for the sake of a fortune.

On looking back here, and adverting to the free observations
I have from time to time made, both on revolutionary men and
measures, I am aware that I have no forgiveness from many,
for attempting to rub off the fine varnish M'hich adheres to them.
But I set out with the avowed design of declaring the truth ;
and to this, I have most sacredly and conscientiously conformed,
according to my persuasions, even as to the coloring of each
particular I have touched upon.

The same veracity shall direct my future delineations, well
Icnowing, that, independently of my obligations to do justice,
this alone must circumscribe the merit of my memoirs. That
we were not, and still are not without patriotism, in an equal
degree, perhaps, with other nations, I have no inclination to
question; but that a noble disinterestedness and willingness to
sacrifice private interest to public good, should be the general
disposition any where, ray acquaintance with human nature,
neither warrants me in asserting, or believing. The preva-
lence of generous sentiment, of which, no doubt, there is a por-
tion in all communities, depends very much upon those, who
have the direction of their affairs. Under the guidance of
Washington, both during the revolution and his administration
of the general government, the honorable feehngs being cher-

164 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ished and brought into action, they had a temporary predomi-
nance over those, which were selfish and base. But these, in
their turn, having acquired the ascendancy, we may sadly re-
cognize with the poet, that

An empty form
Is the M'eak virtue that amid the shade
Lamenting lies, with future schemes amus'd,
While wickedness and folly, kindred powers.
Confound the world.

Reminiscences of Reading in 1798-'99. — Shortly after the
election of John Adams, several acts were passed by Congress,
which were obnoxious to a portion of the people of East Penn-
sylvania, in consequence of which, Berks, Bucks, and North-
ampton, presented scenes of excitement. In Northampton, a
party headed by one Fries, resisted attempts by the federal
government to collect a direct tax — well known by the name
of ^Hhe house tax." John Fries, a desperado, and his asso-
ciates, not only resisted the assessors, but in hot pursuit chased
them from township to township. It is said there were parties
of them — fifty and sixty in number — most of them well armed.
Fries himself was armed with a large horse pistol, and accom-
panied by one Kuyder, who assisted him in command. They
seized several assessors.

In some parts of the counties named, in demonstration of
their opposition to government, they erected liberty poles. To
quell the insurrection, troops, in obedience to Adams' instruc-
tions, were raised in Lancaster county — several companies
marched from Lancaster, Apiil 1, 1799 ; wending their front
toward the arena of dispute, by way of Reading, when Cap-
tain Montgomery's troop of light horse arrived on the evening
of the 1st of April. Their first act, to display their prowess
and gallantry, was to go clandestinely to the house of Jacob
Gosin, who in the spii it of the times had erected a liberty pole
on his own premises, which they cut, without meeting any re-
sistance.

To give undoubted proof of their daring bravery, they bran-
dished their damascene weapons — drew pistols, to show that
they were armed, in the house of the inoffensive father, whose
minor children were scared "half to death," at the martial ma-
noeuvers of the Lancaster troops.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 165

To let no time slip, and while they were undaunted, they pro-
ceeded from Gosin's to the house of John Strohecker, whither
their eagle eyes were drawn by a recently erected pole, tipped with
a rag, "flapping in the breeze." This pole, to show the inde-
pendence of some sturdy urchins, had been erected by some
children, in w^hich Strohecker's were ringleaders. To deter
these young heroes, the soldiers took down the pole, stripped
it of its insignia — entered the house where they Ibund the little
wights — and as they did at Gosin's, so did they here — bran-
dished weapons of war — presented pistols and swords to the
youthful company, to no small alarm of both parents and
children I !

To consummate their martial plans and designs, they molested
the house of Jacob Epler — maltreated him unprovokedly. —
Like bravos ever merit — these merited the contempt of all re-
flecting persons — rendering themselves obnoxious to the order-
ly and well disposed among all classes.

Satisfied of having rendered their country some service, the
troop next morning started for Northampton, to fully execute
the specific purpose of their mission. This done, they again
returned by way of Reading, where they entered the ofl^ce of
the "^rf/er„" a paper edited and printed by Jacob Schneider,
whom they rudely denuded, by violently taring his clothes
from his body, in a somewhat inclement season, and by force
of arms, dragged him before the commanding captain, who pe-
remptorily ordered the editor, for writing and printing some of-
fensive articles, to be whipped; "twenty-five lashes," said he,
shall be well laid on his denuded back, in the market house" —
which order was, however, not executed, because of the timely
and manly interposition of some gentlemen of Captain Leiper's
company, of Philadelphia. A few lashes, however, had been
inflicted before these men had time to fully interpose — these
were laid on by one accustomed to beat, when httle resistance
is to be dreaded — he was a drummer ! I

Colonel Epler, who it appears, had by this time erected, by
the assistance of his neighbors, a liberty pole in place of
the pole erected by his children — thither the soldiery resort-
ed, where they attempted to compel a common laborer to cut
down the "offensive wood," notwithstanding that he protested
against doing so, at the same time, on most solemn asseverations,

166 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

declaring he also was a federalist — Ich bin auch ein Federal-
ihr liebe Leut ; das bin. — Ja ich auch ein Federal ! !

They succeeded in divesting the pole, and with it appended
as a trophy, they rode, vociferating as they went, through the
streets of JEleading, to their place of quarters. In a few days
tliey left; but on the 24th of April, an array under the com-
mand of Erigadier General W. McPherson, arrived at Reading,
apprehending some of the insurrectionists, who were afterwards
tried before Judge Peters, — some found guilty — some were
fined and imprisoned — some were condemned to be capitally
punished— but none atoned with their lives — they were pardon-
ed through executive clemency I Their names are here with-
held.

" The borough is divided into four nearly equal parts, by the
intersection of its principal streets — Penn and Fifth. This divi-
sion is recognized in various borough arrangements, and is of
much practical convenience. The houses are numbered from
these streets. The boundaries of the wards are also marked
by them. There are four wards, N. E. ward, the S. E. ward,
the S. W. ward, and the N. W. ward."

Reading is a flourishing town, containing rising of ten thou-
sand inhabitants. It is beautifully situated on a "gentle de-
clivity" or "sloping plain, between Penn's mountain and the
eastern bank of the Schuylkill. The streets, most used, are
regularly graded, and are covered with a hard white gravel,
derived from the sand-stone of the mountain, east of the town,
which forms a very compact, smooth, and durable roads, supe-
rior to most paved or McAdamized roads."

It is, comparatively speaking, a great place for trade. It pos-
sesses superior advantages for manufacturing purposes ; and will
no doubt, ere long, be a great manufacturing place. "It may,"
says Major William Stable, to whose labors we owe much of
this article, "be safely predicted that within twenty-five years
from this time, (1841,) that those fertile fields between the rail-
road and the river, will all be converted into town, compactly
built."

This town was erected into a borough by an act of assembly
in 1783 ; altered and repealed by an act of 1813, under which
it elects a legislative town council and burgesses, whose duty
it is to carry the ordinancy into effect.

Formerly, and till within a few years, the Jahr Markts, or

'riio rom-l House af Pieaclmp

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 167

yearly markets, held on the 4th of June and 22d of October,
as privileges granted by the proprietors in 1776, were always
^Hhicldy"" attended — crowded by the boys and girls, fathers
and mothers, from the country, for the purpose of hilarity, and
•' to the reverse of morals."

Reading contains the usual number of public buildings, court
house, jail, state house, &c. The new court house, finished in
1840, is superior to most others in the State. It stands on an
elevated ground plot, and measures 120 feet in front, and is
230 feet deep, inclosed with iron railing. The cost of it is
$58,846 42. The jail was erected in 1770; it is a large stone
building. The State House, as it is usually called, was erected
in 1793. The market house is in the centre of Market square,
in which provisions are sold on Wednesday and Saturday
mornings.

There are several churches in the borough of Reading. The
first erected in Reading, it is supposed, was the Friends meet-
ing house, erected in 1766. It is a one story log-house. The
German Reformed erected a building in 1753. In 1761, the
first building, which was of logs, was taken down and a stone
one built ; this also was taken down, and the present one erect-
ed in 1832; which is 75 leet in length, 55 in breadth, and has
a steeple 151 feet high, r-.ul a chime of bells. Rev. John Cas-
per Buchcr is the present pastor. In 1751, the Lutherans
erected a building, which was torn down, and the present one
erected in 1791. It is a very spacious building. It has a
steeple 201 feet and 7 inches high. The Rev. Jacob Miller
is the pastor. The Catholic church was erected in 1791. —
The Presbyterian was erected in 1824. The present pastor.
Rev. William Sterling, The Episcopal church was erected
in 1826, pastor, Rev. R. V. Morgan. The Methodist church
was erected in 1839. The Baptist church in 1837, and the
Universalist in 1830. Besides these churches, there are three
others belonging to the colored people — the Union African, the
Presbyterian African and Methodist African.

The Reading Academy is a two story brick building, 50 by
60 feet, in which male and female schools are taught ; besides
the academy, there is an adequate number of public school
houses. There are a number of charitable, literary and other
associations in Reading. See chap, on Education and the
Press.

168 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

There is also a Water Company, styled " The Reading Wa-
ter Company." established prior to 1722; in that year the
company first brought water into the borough. Since that
time, their works have been greatly improved. The town
is supplied with excellent spring waiter, led into a reservoir,
near the head of Penn street, from whence it is carried through
the various streets, by means of iron pipes."*

That Reading is destined to become a great manufacturing
place, cannot be questioned, if a retrospect of the past be an
index of the future.

Some idea of the ordinary business of Reading, may be gath-
ered from the account of trades and pursuits, given in a pre-
ceding chapter. But this Borough is, of late, assuming an im-
portance fi'om its manufactures and public improvements, which
demands for these a separate notice.

No manufncturing was done in Reading previous to the year
1836, except in the articles of boots and shoes, hats and stone
ware. Since that period the Iron and Nail Works of Messrs.
Keim, Whitaker & Co., the Iron & Brass Foundry of Messrs.
Darhng, Taylor & Co., the Locomotive Engine Manufactory
and Machine shop of D. H. Dotterer & Co., the Stationary
Steam Engine and Rifle Barrel Manufactory of William G.
Taylor, the Foundry of Adam Johnson, the Auger Manufac-
tory of Messrs. Rankin & Philips, the Steam Saw Mill and
Chopping Mill of Messrs. Ferry &. Frill, and three shops for
manufiicturing Horse Power Threshing Machines, Corn Shel-
lers. Patent Ploughs, Revolving Hay Rakes, Cultivators, &c.,
have been established.

There are also three Flour Mills in the borough, including
tlie steam mill lately put into operation by Davis & Co. The
extensive flouring Mill occupied by Mr. George Smith, is a
large brick building, four stories high. It has four pair of
stones, and manufactures 8,000 barrels of flour a year.

The following description of some of the principal Iron
Works, have been obligingly furnished me.

" The Reading Iron and JYail Works were erected and went
into operation, June, 1838. They were built by Messrs. Ben-
neville Keim, George M. Keira, Simon Seiflert, and James
Whitaker, and are advantageously situated within a short dis-
tance of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and the
* Stahle's Dis. Reading, p. 00.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBAJfOW COUNTIES. 169

Schuylkill Navigation. A track or turn-out, made for us by the
Railroad Company, connecting with one of the store houses,
and a basin situated on the canal within twenty yards of the
door of another store house, afford every desirable facility for a
safe and rapid transition of our iron and nails to the market.
The Reading Iron and Nail Works are now owned by Messrs.
Benneville Keim, James Whitaker, Simon Seiffert, and John
McMann, The articles manufactured at these works are, as
the name imports, iron, and nails. That is, the pig iron is here
converted into malleable iron and rolled into various sizes and
shapes to suit the market. The crude metal or pig iron, for
that purpose, is purchased exclusively in Pennsylvania, a laro-e
quantity of which Berks county supplies. We use at the rate
of four thousand tons per annum of this pig iron: this immense
quantity of raw metal is, in that division of the work, called
the Puddling Mill, converted into puddled iron, or No. 1 iron,
by the process of puddling and rolling.

For this purpose we have six large puddling furnaces, con-
veniently placed near the rolls. This mill has a squeezer at-
tached, for forming the ball or loops of iron coming from the
furnaces, into a convenient shape for entering the large rolls.
We puddle at the rate of twelve tons pig iron per day. This
division of the mill is also fitted up for rolling sheet and boiler
iron. The second division is that for roUing nail plates, band,
and gas pipe iron, and the larger sizes of merchant bar iron.
Here we have the reverberatory heating furnace; the flues of
which are so constructed, that the superfluous heat is applied
to the boilers of the steam engine. Some of the flues of the
puddling furnaces are constructed in the same manner, thus
economising on the consumption of coal. We roll in this mill
at the rate of nine tons per day. The third division is the
mill for making all kinds of small iron — round, square and flat,
from a quarter of an inch to one inch, with their intermediate
sizes. Another reverberating furnace is attached to this mill,
and is used for beating the billets of iron, preparatory to
rolling. Here we make ready for the market, at the rate of
650 tons finished iron, per year. The rolhng mill is a heavy
frame building, 130 by 166 feet. Immediately adjoining the
rolling mill, and connected therewith, is the nail factory — a
substantial and massive brick building, 75 by 50 feet, two' sto-
ries high, having on its principal floor 33 machines, calculated
15

Vfd HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

for making all descriptions and sizes of nails, brads and spikes;
The lower story contains the drums and belts that drive the
machinery above, and also the grind stones. It is also a store
house and will contain several thousand kegs of nails. The
whole machinery of these works is driven by a steam engine of
180 horse power, (this is not, however, its maximum power,)
it is high pressure, and was built in 1835, by McClurg, Wade
& Co., of Pittsburg.

This establishment employs at the rate of 130 men and boys,
per day, and consumes fuel at the rate of 7000 tons of Anthra-
cite coal per year. This kind of coal is now used here exclu-
sively. Our blasts for the various furnace is created by fans.

Besides the principal buildings already mentioned, there are
several others in the immediate vicinity, and belonging to the
same concern, viz : a blacksmith shop with two fires ; a coop-
er shop where from 8 to 10 coopers are constantly employed
in miking nail kegs ; also a counting house, store houses for
iron and nails, tool house, &c. &c. The cost of these works
for building, was over one hundred thousand dollars. Referring
again to the nail factory, we forgot to say that we make at
the rate of eighteen hundred tons of nails per year.

" The Locomotive and Steam Engine Manufactory, of D,
H. Batterer & Co., is situated im.nediately on the Canal, and
a short distance above the Lancaster Bridge. The machine
shop is a brick building, 143 by 32 feet, one-half of which is
3 stories high. The smith shop and engine house is 95 by 24
feet, and one and a half stories high. The stationary engine
of this establishment is of 15 horse power, and used for pro-
pelling the machinery, and blowing cylinders for the foundry
of iMjssrs. Darling, Taylor & Co. D. H. Dotterer & Co.,
have built, in the last year, 6 first class locomotive engines, and
rebuilt 3. In the same time they have built 3 stationary en-
gines, besides doing the work of a general machine shop. The
buildings and machinery are sufficient to turn out 12 first class
locr);n stives a year, along with the other work. This estab-
lishment has been in successful operation about three years j
and the average number of hands employed, is 30 journeymen
and 16 apprentices.

" A Ijoining the above establishment is the Iron and Brass
Fo'cniry of Darling, Taylor & Co. The iron foundry is a
brick building, 90 by 45 feet, and one story high, with a

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 171

steeple and bell. Bellows and cupola house, 70 by 30 feet,
part of which is two stones high. Connected with the foun-
dry is an air furnace of the largest class ; building, 20 by 30
feet, and a cupola of the largest class, the air for which is sup-
plied by a pair of iron blowing cylinders, constructed upon the
most improved plan. The above establishment is calculated to
make castings of all dimensions — also, forge hammers, anvils,
&c. The number of hands employed is 16. The brass foun-
dry and smith shop, is 100 by 25 feet, one and a half stories
high, of brick. The brass department is calculated to cast
brasses of every description, and bells of all sizes, equal in point
of tone, to any cast in the U. States. The other part of the
building is occupied by two forge fires for the use of foundry
and threshing machine shop, 50 by 30 feet, and 2 stories high;
in which are built horse power and threshing machines of the
most improved construction, and all kinds of agricultural im-
plements. Number of hands employed — 5 journeymen; and
have manufactured for sale, from 75 to 100 machines the past
season.

The above foundry has been in operation since 1835."

The Reading Stationary Steam Engine Alanufactory of W.
G. Taylor, is situated on Water, near Penn street.

These works employ a large number of hands, and do a large
and extensive business. They have constructed a great num
ber of engines of various power, which have uniformly proved
of excellent quality. Boilers for locomotive and other engines
are made here ; and also mill gearing, lathes, drills, and a va-
riety of other machinery. Connected with this establishment
is a rifle barrel manufactory, which turns out over 3000 barrels
annually.

The new foundry of Mr. Adam Johnston, was put in opera-
tion during the last year, and is situated at the corner of Chest-
nut and Eighth streets.. The building is of brick, 25 by 59
feet, and at present employs eight hands. The machine shop
is 26 by 36 feet. From the experience of Mr. Johnston, in the
business, and his well known skill as a practical moulder,
there is little doubt that this new establishment will thrive and
prosper in business, and prove a valuable acquisition to the
borouo;h.

The extent to w^hich manufactories have grown up in Read-
ing within the last four or five years, and their success thus

172 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

far, add confidence to the opinion, now pretty generally enter-
tained, that this town possesses no ordinary advantages for
manufacturing operations. As yet they are confined principally
to some branch of the iron business ; but woollen and other
factories will probably soon be established. The borough al-
ready feels the benefits of this new interest, in the increase of
population and business, which it has brought to the place. —
Stahle's Des. of Reading.

Population in 1810, 3,462; 1820,4,278; 1830,5,631 ; 1840,
8,392— at present (1844) rising of 10,C00. In 1840 there
were in Reading, horses 566; horned cattle 378; sheep 5;
swine 1,115; bushels of wheat 3,872; rye 3,2S0; corn 3,472;
oats 2,486; buckwheat 271; potatoes 1,043; tons of hay 465.

Whole amount of valuation on all articles made taxable by
law for county purposes for 1844, ^1,712,321; whole rmount
of county tax on the same, at two mills on the dollar, $;3,424 64
cts. State tax, $3,091 57 cts.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. — Stakle^s Bcs. of Readmg.

" Old Berks was erected into a county, and Reading estab-
lished as the county seat, in the year of grace, one thousand
seven hundred and fifty-two. The first Lccd was recorded in
the office, November the seventeenth, and the first Will No-
vember the twenty-ninth of that year; and to complete the
honors of the new county, a law suit was instituted about the
same time.

" Here follow some records of the doings of His Majesty,
George the Third's Justices of the Peace.

" Berks County.

To one of ye Constables of Reading.
Henry Christ Subpoena Philip Adam Klauser and Joseph
Seal Sollenberger of ye township of Bern, so that

they be and appear before me and Wm. Reeser, on ye first day
of September next at one of the clock in ye afternoon, then and
there to give evidence in a certain dispute now depending be-
fore us and undetermined, between ye Lutheran and Reformed
Congregations about Sanct. Michael's Church.— Hereof you
are not to fail at your peril. Given under my hand and seal at
Reading ye 27th day of August 1770.

Henry Christ.

HISTORY OF BE&KS AND LEBANON CODNTIES^ 173

"Berks ss.

y o Apprehend George Geisler, and bring him imme-

diately before me, or the next Justice to ansr un-
to such matters and things, as on his Majesty's behalf shall be
objected against him by Catharine Reese; hereof fail not. —
Given under my hand and seal, Deer ye 26th 1770.

James Diemer.

To Samuel Jackson, Constable.

That is the true magisterial style, and I have no doubt that
between the Justice and. Catharine Reese, poor George Geisler
had a hard time of it.

The followinjj documents are interestsnjj as illustrative of
the tnncs.

"Ann appraisement of the goods late the property of Wm.
Kees taken in execution — by Samuel Jackson, Constable.

One gunn, 15s £0 15s Od.

One pair of Leather Breeches 15s. 0 16 0

£1

10

Od

0

12

0

0

5

0

0

2

0

£1 10 0"

But see how they stript Samuel Dehart of the comforts of
life.

"A list of the goods taken in execution from Samuel Dehart
by the Constable, and appraised by us the subscribers as fol-
lows. Amity August 24th 1770, to wit-
One coat 30s.
One Jacket and trowsers, 12s
One rug-QT 5s
One pillow 23

£2 9 0

I am not quite sure that Mr. Dehart would congratulate him-
self that his body v/as left.'*

" The oldest houses standing in the borough are, the house
of Widow GraefF, No. 134 East Penn Street, formerly kept as
a tavern; the house of Daniel GraefF, No. 133 East Penn
Street; No. 158 in 8th st., between Penn and Washington,
ajid the Spring Garden house."

There are several newspapers printed in Reading ; when
speaking of education and means of diffusing knowledge, they
will be fully noticed.

" The corner house, occupied by Keim & Stichler, was built
15*

174 HISTOEY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

in the year of 1755, by Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter
and agent for Government, and was for reany years occupied
as a Wiffwam, where raany tribes met for treaty."

Christian Frederick Post, on a message frcm the Governor
of Pennsylvania to the Indians in Ohio, in the month of Octo-
ber, 1828, called at the house of Conrad Weiser, in Reading,
the 27th of that month, as will appear frcm extracts of Post's
Journal.

" October 27, 1758, about seven o'clock in the morning, I
came to Reading, and there found captain Bull, Mr. Hays, and
the Indians just mounted, and ready to set out on their jour-
ney ; they were heartily glad to see me ; Pisquetcmen stretch-
ed out his arms, and said, — "Now, brother, I am glad I have
got you in my arms, I will not let you go, I will not let you
go again from me, you must go with me :" and I likewise said
the same to I im, and told him, " I will accompany you, if you
will go the same way as I must go." And then I called them
together, in Mr. Weiser's house, and read a letter to them,
which I had received from the Governor, which is as follows,
viz :

" To Pisquetomen and Thomas Hickman, to T( tiniontonna
and Shickalany, and to Isaac Still.

Brethren, Mr. Frederick Post is ccme express from the
General, who sends his compliments to you, and desires you
would come by the way of his camp, and give him an oppor-
tunity of talking with you.

By this string of Wampun I request you to alter your in-
tended rout by way of Shamokin, and to go to the General,
who will give you a kind reception. It is a nigher way, in
which you will be better supplied with provisions, and travel
with leas fatigue and more safety.

William Denny,

Easton Oct. 23, 1758."

To which I added : " Brethren, I take you by this string,
by the hand, and lift you from this place, and lead you along to
the General."

" After which they consulted among themselves, and soon
resolved to go with me. We shook hands with each other,
and Mr. Hays immediately set out with them ; after which,
having with some difficulty piocured a fresh horse, in the
King's service, I set off about noon, with Captain Bull, and

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES 175

when we came to Conrad Weiser's plantation, we found Pis-
quetoman lying on the ground very drunk, which obliged us to
stay all night, the other Indians were gone eight miles farther
on their journey."

The following Biographical Memoir, copied from the United
States Gazette, will, it is believed, be read with interest :

BIOGRAPHY OF GOV. HIESTER.

Circumstances put me in possession of many facts in relation
to the life of the late GENERAL JOSEPH HIESTER,
which induce a belief that their publication, more especially
those which relate to his conduct in the war of independence,
would be acceptable to a people who have in truth delighted to
do him honor, while he remained amongst them. I think the
facts cannot fail to imbue our population with the same sound
principles and zealous feelings of patriotism, which at an early
period, and throughout a long rnd unostentatious but useful
and honorable life, animated the deceased. No man knows
how soon the day may come, when his services may be required
by his country, and he may be called upon to make sacrifices
of feeling and interest to contribute his mite towards her free-
dom and happiness. Our political horizon is not cloudless. —
There are floating dark spots in the south, which, though now
no larger than a man's shield, may, by the breath of faction,
be blown together, and form a dark mass, which shall over-
shadow the Union. In such times it behooves every citizen to
examine the great questions which agitate the Union, and
make up his mind to adopt that course of conckict which pa-
triotism and honor shall make out. The early, manly, and dis-
interested course of devotion to their country's welfare, which
distinguished the lives of many of our citizer.s, will now well
bear to be reviewed, not only to do honor to thtm and their
memories, but to invite us to emulate their virtues.

It was in the twenty-third or twenty-fourth year of his age,
that General Joseph Hiester, fiist rallied under the standard of
his country, and took up arras in defence of her independence.
It was a gloomy period, at which many hearts, that had beat-

176 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

en high, were sickened and sad in the bosoms of those who
now had melancholy forebodings of the issue of the contest in
which they had cheerfully embarked; at a time when the great,
the good, the peerless Washington, had much cause to complain
of the want of men and means to meet the enemies of his
country.

It was late in the year 1775, or early in 1776, that Joseph
Hiester, then a vigorous, powerful, and influential young man,,
called together, by beat of drum, his fellow townsmen ol Read-
ing, Pennsylvania, to take into consideration the alaimirg state
and gloomy prospects of their country Reading was then an
inconsiderable town, with a small population. Having con-
vened about twenty-five or thirty, he explained to thtm the
necessity there was that they also should be up and doing in
the cause of their common country. He stated that their be-
loved General was then believed to be in a most ptrilous situa-
tion in New Jersey; that his friends and fellows oluiers were
but few, while his foes and the foes of America were thicken-
ing and multiplying on every side. Having so far as in his
power, embarked the sympathies and roused the patiiotism of
his hearers, he expressed his anxious desire to raise a com-
pany of volunteers, and march to the assistance of Washington.
He was heard with attention and respect, and his proposition
was kindly received. He then laid ^40 on the drum head and
said, "I will give this sum, as a bounty, and the appointment
of a sergeant, to the first man who will subscribe the articles
of association to form a volunteer company, to march forthwith,
and join the Commander-in-chief, and I also pledge myself, said
he, to furnish the company with blankets and necessary funds
for their equipment, and on the march." This premise he hon-
orably and faithfully fulfilled. After our young Caj tiiih had
thus acklressed his neighbois, they consulted together, and Ma-
thias Babb stepped forward, fiora amongst thtm, signed the ar-
ticles, and took the money fiom the drum head. This exam-
ple, and further advancements of smaller sums of m.cr.ey, in-
duced twenty men, on th;it evening, to subscribe to the arti-
cles of association. , Notices and invitations were sent through
the neighborhood ; other meetings were held, and in ten days
from the first meeting. Captain Hiester had eighty men en-
rolled. They were promptly organized and re. dy to march to
join the Commander-in-chief.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 177

This company and other troops were, at that time, enlisted
and orcranized under the legish^ture or the executive council of
Pennsylvania, I do not recollect which, for the purpose of form-
ing a disposable force called the Flying Camp. The success
which was consequent upon Capt. Hiester's efforts to raise a
volunteer company, led to the determination to raise a battal-
ion, or regiment. It was early ascertained, that the liberality
and popularity of Captain Hiester, would secure him the high-
est office in the troops, about to be raised. This state of pub-
lic opinion could not be mistaken or misunderstood, and Cap-
tain Hiester was generally regarded as the future commander
of the troops about to be raised. At this point of time, Mr.
Haller, also a citizen of Reading, called upon Mr. Hiester,
and expressed strong desire to join the army, but on condition
that he, Mr. Hiester, would relinquish in his, Mr. lialler's fa-
vor, all claims to the command.

Mr. Haller frankly admitted that he was not disposed to go,
unless elected Colonel, and that he well knew he could not at-
tain that rank in any other way, than through the resignation
and good offices of Capt. Hiester. Mr. Hiester heard with
patient attention, all that was argued and suggested by Mr.
Haller, and in answer said : The office you seek must be the
gift of our fellow soldiers, but I do assure you I am not anx-
ious for command or distinction, further than they may enable
me the more effectually to serve our country. I will willingly
yield all claim, rather than that our country shall not have
your services. The declaration thus made, was followed up
by Capt. Hiester, who freely conversing with the troops, and
declining to be a candidate for the office claimed, used his in-
fluence in favor of Mr. Haller. The facility v.'ith which Capt.
Hiester consented to the wishes of Mr. Haller, and a reliance
upon the pure motives which had induced him thus to yield
rank and precedence to another, was the cause of a new apph-
cation of a similar nature. Mr. Edward Burd was desirous to
obtain the rank of Major, yet was satisfied how hopeless would
be any opposition he could make to the election of Capt. Hies-
ter, whose promotion to that rank was the more anxiously de-
sired by the men, from the public spirited and handsome man-
ner in which he had declined the Colonelcy, and succeeded in-
persuading the men to elect another. The feelings thus every
where manifested, did not, however, deter Mr, Burd from at-

178 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

tempting to attain the station which he ardently desired. He
waited on Capt. Hiester, laid before him his wishes, stated his
knowledge of public opinion, his belief that he could be of ad-
vantage to the public service, and his anxiety that Capt. Hies-
ter would forego his own promotion,, and assist him, Eurd, to
the rank he sought. Capt. Hiester unhesitatingly assented to,
the request of Mr. Eurd ; he addressed his fellow soldiers, as-
sured them how s;itisfied he was to continue to serve as Cap-
tain, and even declared a willingness to serve in the rank, if
by such service he could better serve their ccrrmon country. —
This address had the desired effect, the off cers were eltcted as
he wished, and Capt. Hiester and his company, marched from
Reading for New Jersey.

On their arrival at EUzabethtown, they learned that Gener-
al Washington hail moved with his forces to Long Island. —
Lord Sterling had been sent into Jersey to expedite the march
of the American troops. On communicating this information
to the companies commanded by Captain Hiester and Captain
Graul, Capt. Graul's men, and seme of Capt. Hiester's, declared
their determination to march no further. They declared that
they could not have been compelled to leave their native state,
and that it . was unreasonable to expect that they should
advance further. This was a critical and painful state of af-
fairs. What was to be done; what could be done, to induce
the men to go forward ? They were drawn up in a compact
body, and Capt. Hiester addressed them in such ho.nest, suita-
ble and impassioned language, that they warmed as he warm-
ed, and they soon felt as he felt, and their hearts beat in unison
with his. One who was present on that trying occasion, said
to me, I w^ish to God, I could tell you what the captain said,
and how the men looked and felt ; you have marched thus far
said he, resolved to fight your country's foes, and defend your
homes and families, and will you now prove cowards, and de-
sert your country when your country most wants your help?
I would be ashamed to return home with you ! I will go for-
ward ; yes, if I go by myself. I Avill go and join Gen. Wash-
ington as a volunteer, as a private; and if you will not go, I
will go alone; but surely, said he, you will not turn your backs
upon the enemy, and leave your country at their mercy. 1
will try you once again — Fall in ! — Fall in to your ranks, men,
and those who are ready to JQght for freedom and America>.

filSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 175

will, when the drum beats, and the word is given, march to
join George Washington. The men fell in; they shouldered
their muskets; the drums were beat, and on the word "march,"
the whole line, except three men, moved forward. Those three
soon sprang into the ranks, three cheers were given, and they
were forthwith on their march to Long Island. On their ar-
rival at Long Island, they came frequently in hostile contact
with the enemy ; some were killed and some were wounded ; al
length the British army having concentrated, the American
troops generally, were captured ; how very ill they were used,
and how severely they, were treated, is of historical record, to
the dishonor of the British name. Capt. Hiester, with many
of the American officers, was confined for a long time on board
the prison ship Jersey. The cruelties inflicted, and the suffer-
ings and the privations of the prisoners, v/ill long be remem-
bered and felt. From the prison ship, Capt. Hiester was taken
and cast into prison in New York, where the scarcity of food
and the general ill treatment of the Americans, was scarcely a
remove better than they had experienced on board the Jersey.
Capt. Hiester was attacked with a slow ftxer, and became so
feeble and emaciated, that he was reduced to the painful neces-
sity of passing up and down stairs on his hands and feet. Af-
ter some months confinement, his exchange was effected, and
he was liberated after having been plundered of his stores,
money, and clothing. After his liberation he returned to Read-
ing, where having recovered his strength, and made all nece»T
sary arrangements, he again joined the array near Germantown.
In a skirmish, with an advanced company of the enemy's horse,
his head was slightly grazed by a bullet. He continued in the
army till the close of the war, after which he returned to the
bosom of his family. The popularity, deservedly acquired by
Gen. Hiester, by his public spirit and devotion to his country
during the revolutionary war, he never lost; in all the revolu-
tions of party, his neighbors and those all around him, who had
the best opportunities of knowing his private worth, and good
qualities, continued firmly attached to him.

He was, soon after the war, elected to tlie Legislature of
Pennsylvania, whree he, for mmy years, honorably and faith-
fully represented and served his constituents. He was elected
with a host of good m^n, and of sound understandings to the
convention, which, after the formation of the Federal ConstitB-

ISO HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

■tion, were assembled to frame a Constitution for Pennsylvanicij,
and they did frame the very excellent form of government
under which we have so long prospered as a State, and lived
happily as citizens of the Union. Under that constitution to
which he was so zealously attached, he served many years in
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. He has frequently
■been chosen a member of the College of Electors of President
and Vice President of the United States. He was an Elector,
at the time John Adams was chosen President, and Thos. Jef-
ferson Vice President. He had the further honor of serving
his country in the great Council of the Nation, for fourteen
years, and after having declared a re-election to Congress, he
acceded to the solicitation of his friends, became a candidate
for the office of Governor, and was elected. It is a fact well
known to the political and personal friends of Gen. Hiester,
that he was reluctantly induced to become a candidate for the
office of Governor, and that he yielded his consent upon the
■express and well understood condition, that he would serve but
one period. It is equally well known, that at the end of that
period of service, he resolutely refused again to permit the use
of his name, although urged by partisans and by many friends,
solicited to be a candidate, at tlie expiration of the three years
he had consented to serve as Governor. He returned to the
bosom of his fiunily, still residing in the borough of Pleading,
where, surrounded by friends and neighbors, by whom he war?
greatly esteemed and respected, he lived happily, and descended
to his grave full of years and honor. He died on the 10th of
June, 1832, in the 80th year of his age. He was buried in
the burial ground of the German Reformed Church of Reading,
on the 13th of June; his remains were followed to tiie grave
by a numerous concourse of mourning relations and fellow citi'-
zens. The profound attendance of the military, and other
demonstrations of respect and attachment, all of which werje
promptly tendered, were respectfully declined, and his well
attended but unostentatious funeral, was in perfect keeping with
the truly republican simplicity which had marked the whole
course of his long and useful life.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBAIfON OOWNTIES. 181

Captain Jacob Yoder, was born in Reading, 1758 — a
highly respectable and wealthy Farmer, of Spencer county,
Kentucky. To him belongs the honor of having descended the
Mississippi, in the first Flat Boat — and if no other powers than
those of time, and wind, and storm, shall assail the tablet, of
which an account is given below, which will preserve the fact
recorded in deep indentations upon it, through a series of ages
to come.

The iron tablet was cast by Hanks & Niles, of Cincinnati,
in 1834, and now marks the spot where remains the bones of
Captain Yoder. It is one of the first of the kind ever execu-
ted west of the Alleghenies. It has this inscription:

JACOB YODER
Was born in Reading, Pennsylvania,

August 11th, 1785; i^ '', . T
And was a Soldier in the Revolutionary Army

In 1777 and 1778 ;

He emigrated to the West in 1780, and in May

1782, from Fort Redstone, on the

Monongahela River,

in the

FIRST FLAT BOAT

That ever descended the Mississippi,

He landed at New Orleans, with a cargo of

Produce.

He died April 7, 1832, at his farm in Spencer

County, Kentucky, and lies here

Interred beneath this tablet.

No one who has any pretensions to the possession of a soul,
can contemplate this tablet without a variety o^ emotions. A
brilliant series of associations enchain the mind of the gazer,
as with a spell, to it — that the man who navigated the first
flat boat that ever descended the Mississippi, should have lived
to see a magnificent steamboat ploughing the same watery
track — is a truth which affords a subject of admiration. When
he launched his little bark on the Monongahela, what were his
anticipations ? Such as time has proved ! No, he then thought
of the wily savage, whose covert was a wide and untrodden
wilderness. He proceeded on his precarious voyage. Instead
16

182 HISTORY OP BERKS AiiD LEBANON COUNTIESj

of cheering aspects of busy cities, flourishing villages, and cul-
tivated farmSj which now claim the voyager's attention, he sa-^
a range of hills, unshorn of their primeval widerness, whence
the lugubrious howl of the wolf proceeded, the vast wilderness
which the foot of the civilized man had not trodden, instinct,
'tis true, ivith life; but it was the life of the forest derizeh,
the trembling fawn, and the myriad songsters of the wild. He
reached his destination, but his safety was a marvel to himself,
and his dangers, in after recital, awakened up a fear stricken
excitement in the minds of those who listened to his tale of
perils "by field and flood." He lived to see the country
change masters, the wilderness blossom as a rose, and human
energy achieve a Conquest over a thousand obstacles.

This is the greatest triumph that man has yet achieved. —
History records no parallel. To the future generations of
America, it will be what the fabulous age of the Titans was to
the ancient Greeks.

Colonel Thomas Hartley — the subject of this notice —
was born in the vicinity of Reading, September 7th, 1748. —
His parents sent him to the common, as well as to the schools
of more advanced standing, in which he made more than ordi-
nary proficiency — he left not a moment to pass without some
improvements. At the age of eighteen he w ent to York, Penn-
sylvania, where he entered upon a regular course of Purdy's
jurisprudence, under the direction of Samuel Johnson, Esq. —
So great was his proficiency, that before he had attained the
age of twenty-one, he was admitted to practice at the bar.

Never has any one risen higher, in the same time, in his pro-
fessional business, than Thomas Hartley; this was mainly
owing to his thorough knowledge of law, and in his intimate
acquaintance of the English and German languages — both es-
sential, in that day^ to succeed as a lawyer at that bar. Per-
haps the great extent of his practice was also owing in part to
the paucity, as to the number of lawyers — for young Hartley
and the Honorable James Smith, were for some time, the only
practicing attorneys — Mr. Johnson, his preceptor, was the
prothonotary of the county, from 1764 to 1777,

Hartley, unlike many of that day, though much engrossed

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 188

with professional business, was the warm friend of his country
— much of his time was devoted, both in the field and cabinet,
lo his country's cause, As early as 1774, the citizens of York
county elected him as a member of the provincial meeting of
deputies, held at Philadelpliia, July 15, 1774. In 1775, h^
again attended a provincial convention, held at Philadelphisi,
23d of January.

The crisis was now arriving that was to try men's souls —
the time was approaching when stern requisition demanded de-
cision of character, The committee of safety for Pennsylva-
nia, vtfho never recommended any that would falter in duty, re-
commended among others, Mr. Hartley to Congress, for filecj
officers to the sixth battalion, ordered to be raised in Pennsyl-
vania. The merits of the respective gentlemen recommended,
were inquired into by Congress; whereupon, January 10, 177G,
the following persons were elected: — William Irwin, Esq., as
Colonel; Thomas Hartley, as Lieutenant Colonel; and James
Dunlap, Esq., as Major. But not many months passed before
Lieut. Col. Hartley was promoted to the rank of Colonel. He
was distinguished as a soldier — devoted three years to the ser-
vice of his country, in that capacity. After thus faithfully
serving, at the expiration of three years, on the 13th of July,
1779, he respectfully addressed Congress, asking permission to
resign his commission. The reasons set forth to Congress,
were deemed sufficient to grant him his reasonable request — his
resignation was accepted, and at the same time, it was resolved
by that honorable body, that "they had a high sense of Colo-
nel Hartley's merit and services."

His fellow citizens were determined to have his services, if
not in the field, at all events in the legislative hall; they ac-
cordingly elected him in October, 1778, to represent the coun-
ty of York in the General Assembly. ,

In 1783, he was was elected a member of the council of,
censors, under the constitution of '76 — the first day of their
meeting was the 10th of November, 1783. At the close of
the year 1787, he was a member of the State convention which
adopted the constitution of the United States.

Having so faithfully represented the interests of his constitu-
ents, and honorably discharged the duties of the several stations
he held, his fellow citizens were determined on his further ser-
viceSf and they accordingly elepted him as a meml^ei;, of Coja-^

184 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

gress. As a new order of things had now commenced, the
public mind was engrossed alike with hope and fear. The ci-
tizens of York county had taken a great interest in the estab-
lishment of the new constitution, and as Colonel Hartley was
the first person who was to go forth from among them, as a
member of Congress, under that constitution, they determined
in the warmth of their feelings, to show him every honor. —
When he set out from York, on the 23d of February, 1789, on
his way to the city of New York, where Congress was to set,
he was accompanied to the Susquehanna by a great number of
the inhabitants of the borough and its neighborhood, and was
there received by a company from that part of the county, and
from Lancaster. The citizens then partook of a dinner, and
the whole was one splendid celebration. When on the way of
his return, he arrived at Wright's Ferry on the 6th of Octo-
ber, he was met at that place by a number of gentlemen from
the borough of York, and was from there conducted to his
house, in town, amidst the acclamations of his friends and fel-
low citizens."

He was for many years a member of Congress. He was the
first gentleman from the State of Pennsylvania, that was ad-
mitted a counsellor in the Supreme Court of the United States,
He closed his eventful life on the morning of the 21st of De-
cember, 1800, aged 52 years, 3 months, and 14 days. His
remains rest in the burial ground of the Church of St. John's,
York, Pennsylvania.

/ »\ EXETER TOWNSHIP.

Exeter township was settled prior to 1720, and numbered,
fifteen or twenty yeiiTS afterwards, rising of three hundred of a
population. In 1«©41, the number of taxables was seventy-six ;
and a few years after the organization of Eerks county, the
following were taxables in Exeter township, as then bounded:

Adam Wink, Michael Zeister, Paul Durst, Isaac Levan,
Leonard Lebo, Jacob Scherer, Adam Garrett, Henry Lees,
Frederick Kunkle, Conrad Kehler, Henry Boyer, Henry Al-
der, Moses Ellis, Abraham Levan, Jacob Lanciscus, Freder-
ick Christian, George Engle, Nicholas Herner, John Aurand,
Francis Rutter, Martin Allstat, Christian Weeks, George Hin-
ton, Samuel Hughes, JEdward Hughes, Jonathan Price, Robert

HISTORY OF BERKS AlfD LEBANON COUNTIES. 185

Dickey, William Boone, Henry Hernor, Morris Ellis, John
Webb, William Russel, James Boone, Peter Schneider, Ru-
dolph Hegler, George Messersraith, Adam Young, Martin
Waltz, George Gerich, Valentine Messersraith, Jacob Weiler,
Christian Boyer, Jacob Boechtel, Peter Boechtel, James
Thompson, Peter Rein, Jacob Rawn, Wm. Maugridge, Philip
Near, John Boyer, Henry Thompson, Jacob Boyer, Daniel
Conrad, Robert Patterson, William Kirby, Peter Kirby, Geo.
Hart, Peter Smith, Mordecai Lincoln, Jacob Huget, Benjamin
Parks, Ulrich Mahn, Peter Huet, Francis Wallich, Mathias
Detert, Frederick Kchler, Michael Lodvvick, Benjamin Boone,
Leonard High, Joseph Boone, John Hugh, John Wainwright,
Jacob Yoder, John Zug, Yost Sees, Henry Shleigh, Christian
Boyer, Peter Noll, Stephen Kreitscher, Mathias I'eeder, John
Boone, James Thompson, Philip Saddler, Peter Alstat, Heze-
kiah Boone, John Conrad, Jacob Dibler, Frederick Herner,
Wm Patterson, Frederick Wallick, Peter Fisher, John Boech-
tel, AbraliamLincoln, George Ritter John Frelhveiler.

Exeter township is bounded north-east by Oley township;
on the east by Amity ; on the vsouth by the Schuylkill river,
which divides it from Robeson and Cumru ; and on the north-
v/est by Alsace. Greatest length, four miles and a half, and
breadth the same; the surface generally undulative, except in
the north-western part, which is hilly; soil a reddish shale and
gravel ; naturally not productive, but in many places it has been
rendered, by the husbandman's care, very productive. The
western boundary is strongly marked by Mount Never Sink
and other prominent hills.

Roush creek, which enters this township on the north-west,
passing through it in a southern course, v^'ending its way to the
Schuylkill and the Manokesy, which crosses the north-east cor-
ner of the township, affords water power to several grist mills,
saw mills, an oil mill, a fulling mill, and a forge.

The Perkiomin and Reading turnpike pass through it for a
distance of five or six miles. Exeter, a small village, is on the
turnpike, eight miles from Reading. It contains not more than
eight or ten houses, a tavern and a store.

There is a school held in common by the German Reformed
and Lutherans, near the centre of the township.

Population in 1810, 1,194; 1820, 1,41G; 1830, 1,455; 1840,
1,911. Hci-£es321; horned cattle 770; sheep 691; swine

16*

186 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

1,118; bushels of wheat 11,670; rye 12,367; corn 18,564;
oats 23,802; buckwheat 304; potatoes 5,089 ; tons of hay
1,686; pounds of wool 1,274; flax 1,284.

Whole amount of valuation on all articles made taxable by
law, for county purposes, $614,092 ; county tax ^1,228 IS :
State tax S06,10.

GREENWICH TOWNSHIP.

Greenwich township was formed about 1852, out of part of
Allemangel, which had been settled prior to 183G. It was
originally nearly wholly settled by Germans, among whom
were a few of the descendants of French Huguenots. During
the French and Indian war, from 1754 to 1760, the inhabitants,
in common with all the frontier settlers of Berks, were occa-
sionally alarmed by their cruel enemies.

In March, 1755, the Indians burned the house of Barnabas
Seitel, who lived on the borders of the township, and the mill
of Peter Conrad; killed the wife of Balsar Neytong, and made
captive his son, a lad of eight years of age. They fired five
times upon David Howell, and the last time shot him through
the arm.

The settlers were also alarmed by the news of murders com-
mitted in the township, immediately north; namely, in Albany
township, when they heard of the horrid massacre of Jacob
Gcrhart's family, and others. These were trying times.

In 1756, the following taxables resided within this township,
as it was then Umited :

George Herring, Adam Smith, Adam Baner, Andrew
Onengst, Adam Boose, Adam Zolman, Charles Balmer, Chris-
topher Rein, Christian Ungerer, Frederick Kremer, Frederick
Hene, Frederick Shallenberger, Dietrich Mayer, Dietrich Leiby,
Godfried Stern, Gabriel Eisenberger, George Kosser, Gottfried
Kremer, George Ley, George Miller, George Breiner, George
Wilhelm Riegel, Gerhart Schallenberger, George Slaus, Geo.
Kremer, George Kemp, George Herring, George Bauman,
George Ussinger, Henry Ballender, Henry Mayer, Henry
Berke, Henry Krall, Henry Eschbach, Hantorns Kiel, Jacobus
Diehl, Jacob Liebe, John Schwedner, John Sassamanhaus, John
Raush, John Dunkle, John Wary, Jacob Hetrick, John Collon,
Jacob Zettelmayer, Jacob Gronable, Jacob Leydick, Lorentz

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 187

Biever, Leonard Bauman, Mathias Reamer, Melchior Biel,
Michael Crans, Michael Mauser, Michael Lesher, Matthias
KefFer, Mathias Ley, Martin Hetinger, Michael Leiby, Mi-
chael Gottschall, Nicholas Stein, Philip Lenhart, Peter Len-
hard, Peter Plerdinger, Philip Kallbach, Peter Dell, Philip
Mayer, Peter Buns, Peter Steuerwald, Peter Hauck, Rudolph
Bussart, Rudolph Zimracr, Simon Dierick, Simon Essenberg,
Urbanus Frieferly, Ludwig Beckel, Nicholas Essenberg, Geo.
Spang, Abraham Kles, Jacob Hoffman, Hans Christian Baum,
Nicholas De Hoop, .lohn Riebsaaraen, jMartin Onangst, Jacob
Mack, George Krubach, Daniel Manensmith, Michael Smith,
John Manser, Andrew Seitle, Henry Smith, Adam Faust,
Henry Faust, Jacob Lantzard, Henry Shullenberger, Peter
Dempkle, Christian Manensmith.

Greenwich is bound north by Albany township, north-east
by Lehigh county, south-east by Maxtawny township, south
by Richmond, and west by Windsor; mean length six miles
nnd a half, and mean breadth four and a half; contains nearly
fourteen thousand acres of land, generally hilly ; and the soil,
gravel, of an ordinary quality. Round-top hill, or Peaked
mountain, on the northern boundary of the township, presents
a prominent feature, and gives a similar character to the aspect
of the surface in its vicinity.

The Maiden creek, which passes through the north-western
part of the township, affords water power, as do several other
streams in the township; among these is Lacony creek, a branch
of Maiden creek, which flows in a serpentine course of five
miles along the southern boundary, receiving, as it progresses,
Mill creek, and several smaller rivulets. There are six grist
mills, five saw mills, four tanneries, one forge, an oil mill and a
pottery, in the township.

There are two small towns, Klinesville, seven miles from
Hamburg, on the State road, leading from Hamburg to Allen-
town; Grimsville, on the same road, ten miles from Hamburg
— three stores, and seven taverns. In 1840, the following Re-
volutionary pensioners lived in this township:— Andreas Camp,
George Hind ay, and Peter Steger.

Population in 1830, 1,407; 1840, 1,629. Horses 200;
horned cattle 572; sheep 459; swine 644; bushels of wheat
2,275; rye 6,030; corn 5,621; oats 6,465, buckwheat 2,575;
potatoes 5,621 ; tons of hay 601 ; pounds of wool 597; flax 350.

138 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES^

Whole amount of valuation on all articles made taxable by-
law for county purposes $467,975 ; county tax $935 95 ; State-
tax $581 59.

HEIDELBERG TOWNSHIP.

Heidelb?,rg township was so called by the first settlers, after
the capitol of the country whence many of them had emigrated
ta America. It was named after Hiedelberg, a city of south
Germany, in the duchy of Eaden, and the seat of a town and
district bailiwick, at the foot of the Kaiserstuhl, on the Neckar,.
about twelve miles above its confluence with the Rhine, at
Manheim.

When settlements were commenced by the Germans, (of
whose coming and settling a detailed account W'ill be given
below,) they scattered themselves in the midst of the Indians,
who complained much to government, of the "foreigners," that
their corn had been destroyed by those people's creatures. —
Sassoonan or Allummapees, at a council held at Philadelphia,
in the Great meeting house, June 5, 1728, complained bitterly
of the intrusions by the Germans at Tulpahoca, (Hiedelberg.)
in addressing secretary Logan, he said : " He was grown old,
and was troubled to see the christians settle on lands that the
Indians had never been paid for — they had settled on his lands,
for which he had never received any thing. That he is now
an old man, and must soon die, that his children may wonder
to see all their father's lands gone from them, without his re-
ceiving any thing for them, that the christians now make their
settlements very near them, and they shall have no place of
their own left to live on. — Col. Rec. iii. p. 338.

A few years after this complaint by Sassoonan, Thomas
Penn purchased the Tulpehocken lands, now forming Eerks
and Lebaiion counties. At the time of Penn's purchase, 1732,
and ten or fifteen years later, the tawny sons of Tulpahoca had
a cluster of Indian villages, north of the present site of Wom-
laelsdorf. under the Ivittatiny or Blue Mountain.

In a preceding chapter,* it has been stated, that some Ger-
mans had settled in Tulpehocken, the greater part of which
lay within the bounds of Heidelberg township, when Eerks
county was organized. As it may be interesting to the general '

* Chapter vi . p. 98. 99.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 189

reader, and especially to the numerous descendants of the first
settlers of this portion of the county, a brief account will be
given of their emigration to Pennsylvania.

About the years 1707, '8, '9, thousands of Germans were
oppressed by Romish intolerance, many of whom, to the num-
ber of three thousand or more, on a proclamation of Queen
Ann, of England, 1708, went from the Palatinate to Holland,
and were thence transported to England. They encamped
near London. About this time, the colonists of Kew York,
looked to the mother country for aid to repel the incursions of
the French. In 1710, Cols. Nicholas and Schuyler, accompa-
nied by five Sachems, or Indian chiefs, had retm-ned from
America to England, to solicit additional forces against Canada.*
While at London, the chiefs in their walks in the outskirts of
London, saw the unenviable condition of the houseless and
homeless Germans ; though Indians, they were moved by hu-
man woe and suffering, coramisserated their destitute condition,
and no doubt, being informed of the yearnings of the Germans'
aching hearts for a country free from persecution, one of theai,
unsolicited and voluntarily, presented the Queen a tract of his
land, in Schoharie, New York, for the use and benefit of the
distressed Germans.f

About this time. Colonel Robert Hunter, having received the
appointment of Governor, for New York, and sailing for Amer-
ica, brought with him not less than three thousand of these
Germans, or Palatines, to the town of Nevv' York, where they
encamped several months; and in the autumn of 1710, many of
whom were removed at the expense of Queen Ann, to Living-
ston district; others settled in the city of New York, some in
Germantown, others elsewhere,

Those who were removed to Livingston's District, or Manor,
were required, in order to repay freightage from Holland to
England, thence to New York, to raise hemp, and manufac-
ture tar. I In this business they did not succeed ; however,
they were released in 1713, from all claims upon them for
freightage across the Atlantic.

One hundred and fifty of the families, w^illing to avail them-
selves of their present from the Indians, made to Queen Ann,.

♦ His. N. Y., p. 39.— Holmes Annals i. 501.
r Hallische Nachrichten, 973—981.
j Hal. Nach. 974.

190 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES..

for their use, moved in the spring of 1714, through a denjse
forest to Schoharie, west of Albany, and seated themselves,
among their Magna or Mohawk neighbors and friends, the In-
dians. On their arrival, they were wholly destitute, both of
food, and the implements of husbandry. Their sufferings, for
some time, were very great. Their neighbors, the Indians,
had not laid up any provisions for themselves; and of course
had none to spare, to supply the wants of their white brethren
— depending entirely upon Nature's store-house — believing that
their hands were not made to perform manual labor, other than
hunting and fishing.

The Palatines, in this new home, made many a meal upon
ground-nuts and wild potatoes. The former, the Indians called
otachraquara, and the latter ochnanada. The nearest place
where flour or meal could be procured, was at a distance of
fifty miles from the new settlement; and these they had to
purchase on credit, which was not readily obtained — unenviable
condition.

In Schoharie'lj having only permission from the Indians,, the
Germans commenced, under all these discouraging circum-
stances, improving lands, and building houses. In a few years,
and after persevering efforts, they succeeded in improving
several settlements; for they had settled in hamlets, (Doerfer,)
or lodges, of these there were seven, namely : Kneskern's Ger-
lack'sdorff, Fuchsendorff, Hans George Schmit'sdorff, Weiser's
or BrunnendorfF, Hartman'sdorfF, and Ober-Weiser'sdorff. —
They seemed now to prosper ; having in a great degree over-
come nearly all obstacles, which so readily presented, and still
present themselves, in commencing settlements in a remote for-
est country. Having, however, neglected to comply with the
formalities of the law of New York, and improving lands with-
out the full consent of Government, the titles to their lands
were defective, and as a consequence, they were involved in
new difficulties. After much vexation, and many fruitless ef-
forts to secure to themselves, what was intended for them by
the Indian present to Queen Ann; some having heard of un-
occupied lands in Swatara and Tulpehocken, in Pennsylvania,
united, and left Schoharie, wended their faces in a south-wes-
tern direction, and travelled through the forest, till they reached
the Susquehanna river, where they made canoes, freighted them,
with their familiesj and some household goods, floated dowRi

SIISTOrV of berks and LEBANON COUNTIES. lOl

the river to the mouth of the Swatara creek, thence they
worked their way up, till they reached a fertile spot on Tulpe-
hocken creek, where they settled amidst the Indians, in the
spring of 1723. Their cattle they drove by land.* Here they
commenced the world anew, with some disorder. Weiser, who
joined them afterwards, and knew them well, says : — " Es war
niemand unter dem Volk der es regieren konnte; ein jeder that
was or wollte ; and ihr starker Eigensinn hat ihnen bis auf
diese Stunde (174-5) in Wege gestanden," There was none
among the people who could govern them; every one did as he
pleased ; their obstinacy, to this day, (1745,) has been much
against them. There were thirty-three families of them at
Tulpehocken in 1728. The names of some of them are still
preserved in the Provincial Records. There are given below
as then spelled : Johannes Yans, Peter Ritt, Conrad Schitz,
Paltus Unfs, Toritine Serbo, Josep Sab, Jorge Ritt, Gotfrey
Filler, Joannes Claes Shaver, Jo Hameler Ritt, Johan Peter
Pacht, Jocham Michael Cricht, Sebastian Pisas, Andrew Fal-
born.f

These expected in 1728, fifty families more, " who, if they
might be admitted on certain conditions," would come and set-
tle among them at Tulpehocken. In 1729, there was an im-
portant accession. Among these were the IJoehns, Fischers,
Lauers, Anspachs, Badtorfs Spickers, Grists, • Cadermans, No-
acres, Lebenguths, Conrad Weiser and his sons — the latter set-
tled near Woramelsdorf, of whom more will be said in the
sequel. J

In 1756, the following were assessed and returned as taxa-
bles of Heidelberg township, many of v;hose descendants are
still the owners of the lands first possessed by the first settlers.
Heidelberg then embraced upper and lower Heidelberg, having
since 1830, been divided.

Philip Weiser, Frederick Weiser, Andrew Boyer, John Oorth,

John Boyer, jr., John Eckert, Michael Schauer, Henry Fitler,

George Deer, Leonard Groh, Nicholas Ried, Jacob Klein, John

Zerbe, Peter Hofiraan, George Lauch, Henry Shuger, Henry

.^Qfuber, Adam Schauer, Casper Hoehn, Joseph Felsmayer, Ga-

* Conrad Weiser's German MSS. Journal,
t Col. Rec. iii. p. 342, and preceedihg pages 97-99.

X Heidelberg twp. is noted for having been the place of the Heidelberg
meeting in 1829, in opposition to Sunday Schools, &c. See Appendix, A.

192 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

briei Radgee, Antonie Faust, Adam Spohn, Thomas Joiiesv
Lodowick Deer, Eliezar Evans, Michael Malle, Peter Betz^
Wilhehn Fuser^ Peter Eberle, Dieterich Marschall, Frederiek
Koble, John Eoble, Peter Bricker, Christian Daube, Sebastian
Obakl, Jacob Boyer, Conrad Scharlf, Peter Knop, Ullerich
Michel, Valentine Frei, Henry Staer, Michael Lauer, Tobias
Bickel, Conrad Ernst, Martin Barteberger, Michael Kaiser/
Joseph Hetterich, Peter Riedi, Conrad Finck, Lorentz Storck,
(Strong,) Michael Miller, Melchior Knauer, Dietrich Scholl,
Jacob Kreiter, Henry Deckert, John Doutrick, Simon Bimoch,
Adam Hoehn, Frederick Gerhartj John Kohler, John Disler,
Henry Boyer, Nicholas Bechtel, Paul Engle, Lazarus Weng-
ert, Peter Fege, Christian Hoehn, George Hoehn, Frederick
Hoehn, Peter Newman, Adam Brown, W. Mauntz, Jacob
Sensebach, Samuel Nickel, Jacob Cull, Andrew Gross, Francis
Bosraan, Henry Spohn, Michael Busch, John Klinger, Nicho-
las SchaefFer, Christian Miller, Peter Warner, Conrad Smith,
Christian Freimeierj Christian Frantz, Christian Paffenberger,
Frederick Stump, Johji Bayer, jr., Mathias Jacobi, Ulrich
Brunner, Adam Boniwitz, Baltzer Wenrich, John Planck, Ja-
cob Orths, William Jones, John Riegel, Henry Martin, George
Boeshor, John Strohschneider, Charles Bomberger, George
Newman, John Mayer, Jacob Spatz, Martin Linck, Ludwig
Held, John Dieter, John Rose, Nicholas Glatt, John Fischer,
Casper Scheffer, Abraham liessler, Mathias Schallhorn, Mi-
chael Overhouse, MichaeLKessler, Henry Prince, Joseph Fuchs,
Ulrich Rickert, George Hetterick, Michael Kurtz, Christian
Michel, Leonard Schnell, Christopher Mohr, Dieteiich Stein-
brecher, Peter Haas, Christopher Witmer, Henry Hetterick,
Michael Borger, George Michael Hehl, John Shuger, Henry
Seitel, Martin Long, George Brindel, Jacob Slauch, Jacob Fis-
cher, Christian Everhart, Michael Scheffer, Peter Bolender,
John Heckert, Nicholas Schweigart, George Aumillerj Abra-
ham Stover, Antonie Crandeberger, Jacob Schv^^ob, Peter Rie-
gel, Henry Dock, Peter Schoenfelter, John Walter, Philip
Zerbe, Joiacham Schmit, Rudolph Schmaltz, Peter Foltz, Da-
Miller, Henry Geiwerd, George Rabb, Frederick Schwartz,
Jacob Minig, Henry Christ, ' Baltzer Koenig^ John Hartman,
Peter Fischer, Wilham Allen, Peter Werle, Michael Schnei-
der, Adam Potteiger, Martin Armheld, John Servey, Andrevr
Ruhl, Christian Plank, Charles Plank, Samuel Boyer, Adam

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 193

^ruber, John Lesch, Henry Sohl, Thomas Jones, Christopher
Lerch, Mathias Miller, Jacob Erntt, Casper Conrade, John
Zerbe, Henry Minig, Peter Smith, George Manntz, Nicholas
Yung, Philip Baner, Henry Weaver, Henry Seidcl, Henry
Decker t.

From the following communication, addressed by George
Washington to Gen. Wayne, it appears he had been in this
township in the fall of 1777 :

Sept. 17, 1777.
Reading Furnace, 6 o'clock P. M.

Dear Sir: — I have this instant received yours of half past
o o'clock, A. M. Having written to you already to move
forward upon the enemy, I have but little to add. Generals
Maxwell and Porter, are ordered to do the same, being at
Pott's Forge. I could wish you and those Generals to act in
conjunction, to make your advance more formidable, but I
would not have too much time delayed on this account. I
shall follow as speedily as possible with jaded men — some may
probably go off immediately, if I find they are in a condition
for it. The horses are almost all out upon patrol. Cartridges
have been ordered for you. Give me the earliest information
of every thing interesting, and of your moves, that I may gov-
ern mine by them. The cutting off the enemy's baggage
would be a great matter.

Yours, sincerely,
Geo. Washington.

Gen. A. Wayne.

Heidelberg township is bounded on the north by upper Tul-
pehocken township; north-east by Penn, a recently organized
township; south-east by lower Heidelberg; south-west by Lan-
caster county, and west by Marion township — about being
formed out of part of Heidelberg and lower Tulpehocken; con-
tains between eighteen and nineteen thousand acres of good
land, much of it level; more than one half of it limestone soil,
the other gravel, and when tilled, highly productive.

It is well watered by the Tulpehocken, and its tributary
streams has ample water power. There are in it one fur-
nace, two fulling mills, two woollen factories, four grist mills,
thi-ee saw mills, one paper mill, and four or five churches.
17

194 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON GGURTIES.

The Reading and Harrisburg turnpike passes through it.~=
The Wommelsdorf is on this pike, fourteen miles from Reading,
This town, originiilly called Middlefeown, was laid out by John
Wommelsdorif, in 1762. The first house erected here was the
one now occupied by Michael Seltzer, whose grandfather, Ja-
cob Seltzer, erected it in 1761, '62 The town contains 125
bouses ; population 900 ; 3 stores and 3 taverns ; a Lutheran
and German Reformed church, a New Presbyterian, and also
one osvned by the Evangelical Association; three or four
schools, and an Academy, built in 1834. Rev. Morse is prin-
cipal.

General Washington staid all night at Wommelsdorf, the
13th November, 1793, as appears from the following :

Wommelsdorf, den 14 ten Nov. 1793.

Gestern Abends hatten die Einwohner dieser Stadt das Verg-
nuegen den Presidenten, George Washington, der Vereinigten
Staaten von America zu bewirthen, und ihm bey dieser, Geleg-
enheit folgende Addresse zu ueberreichen :

Ihro Excellentz !

Moechten sie unsere aus Dankbarkeit und Gehorsam entste-
hende Freudensbezeugungen, in diesem gluecklichen Augen-
blick da wir die persoenliche Gegenwart von Ihro Excellentz
geniessen, in Dero angebornen und gewohnhchen Guete an-
zunehnmen belieben.

Die kluge und mit gluecklichem Erfolg gekroente Thaten,
die Sie unter dem Schutz des Allerhoechten Wesens in dem
letzten glorreichen Krieg ausgefuehret haben, dan Glueck und
Zufriedenheit das wir unter Dero Regierung seithin in Fried-
enszeit geniessen, und des letzhin sowohl ueberlegte zura rech-
ten Zeitpunct anempfohlne Neutralitaete-System, ermuntert
alle Menschen aufs Neue zur Hochachtung und Liebe gegen
sie.

Die Einwohner dieser Gegend werden niemals unterlassen.
langes Leben und Gesundheit von Gott fuer sie zu erbeten.

To which Washington sent the following very appropriate
reply :

Die Aufmerksamkeit die sie mir erzeigen, und der Beifali
von meinen Bemuehungen, giebt mir das groeste Vergnuegen.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES 195

A company of volunteers assembled, and amidst repeated
firing of guns, near the door of the house in which le lodged,
exclaimed : — Lang lebe George Washington ! Lang lebe George
Washington I !

Newraanstown, on the road from Wommelsdorf, on the boun-
dary line between Lebanon and Berks county, was laid out by
Walter Newman, 1762. The proprietors was known for many
years as " Der Irische.'^ The names of the original lot hold-
ers are still preserved; they are as follows: — Fage, Lasch,
Kapp, Gartner, Keenzer, Zeller, Nail, Strickler, Eisenmenger,
Manerer, Reed, Brown, Schenkel, Jacobs, Knauer, Moor,
Stoop, Shup, Minig, Schall, Ensminger, Spatz, Ilildebeitel,
Brenner.

It contains 54 houses; two stores and two taverns; a church,
common to Lutherans and German Reformed. Population 455.
The present proprietors are Peter and Jacob Schoch, to whom
eight shillings, per annum, are paid per lot, by the holders.

Population of the township before it was divided: in 1830,
4,101; 1840,2,827.* Horses 1,107; horned cattle 3,312;
sheep 1,713; swine 3,448; bushels of wheat 56,189; potatoes
15,825; tons of hay 4,120; pounds of wool 3,057. Whole
amount of valuation, made taxable for county purposes, in 1844,
$761,308; county tax f^l,522 60; State tax $921 66.

CONRAD WEISER.f

Conrad Weiser, w^hose name is intimately associated with
the early history of his adopted country, both as a private in-
dividual, and as a useful citizen in a public capacity, was born
at Herrenberg, in Wittemberg, Germany, November 2d, 1696.
His father's name was John Conrad Weiser.

Conrad was kept at school till he had mastered the rudi-
ments of the German language, and had been instructed in the
elements of the christian religion, according to Martin Luther's
catechism. At the age of twelve, he was, by death, deprived
of a pious and affectionate mother of sixteen children. She

* Since IS 10, Heidelberg has been divided into upper and lower.

t Conrad Weiser was the grand-father, on the maternal side, of Docxoji
Muhlenberg, of Lancaster, and of the Rev. and Hon. Hfnry A. Muhlen-
SKKO, lately Minister to Austria, and now residing at Reading, Pa.

196 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

died May 1st, 1709. Conrad, in his private journal, speaking
of his mother, says: — "Sie war eine Gottesfuerchtige, und bey
ihren Nachbarn sehr geliebte Frau. Ihr Wahlspruch war':
Jesus, dir lebe ich, dir sterbe ich; dein bin ich todt und leben-
dig."

Shortly after the death of Mrs. Weiser, the father, with
eight of his children, in company with several others of his
countrymen, left Germany for England, where they arrived at
London, June 34, 1709 ; and there they were maintained at the
expense of Queen Ann, npon whose invitation they had gone
thither, till tow^ards the close of December, when about four
thousand of them embarked for America, where they arrived,
at the town of New York, the 18th of June 1710.

Conrad, the subject of tliis notice, and seven brothers and
three sisters, accompanied their father. Conrad's oldest sister,
Catharine, having married Conrad Boos, remained at the old
homestead. " Mein Vatter," says Conrad, " lies ihnen sein
Haus Aecker, Wiessen, Wein-Garten, u. s. u. fuer 675 Gul-
den."

In the autumn of 1710, John Conrad Weiser, with several
of his children, among whom was Conrad, and several hundred
German families, were transferred, at Queen Ann's expense, to
Livingston district, w^here many of them remained till 1713. —
Two younger brothers of Conrad Weiser, namely, George
Frederick and Christoplier Frederick, were shortly, on their
arrival at New York, by the consent of their sick father, boimd
out, or apprenticed by the Governor of New York, to a gen-
tleman on Long Island.

In Livingston district, under the direction of commissioners
Johan Cast, Henry Mayer, and Richard Seakott, appointed by
Governor Hunter, it was allotted to these Germans to manu-
facture tar, and raise hemp, to repay freightage from Holland
to England, and thence to New York. This business proved
unsuccessful; they were, however, released in 1713, of all
freightage upon them. Shortly afterwards, the Germans were
dispersed through the province of New York — many remained
in this district, and about one hundred and fifty families resolved
to move to Schoharie, forty miles west of Albany. Previous
to their removing, they sent deputies thither to consult with
the Indians, touching their locating at that place; for one of
the Chiefs, when in England a few years previous, at the time

HISTORY OF /BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 197

these Germans wer^i there, made Queen Ann a present of some
land, for the beho/jf of the Palatines. John Conrad Weiser,
Conrad's f^Uher, Yvas one of their deputies.

Having, in a preceding part of this book, mentioned tlie
leading circumstances, of this 'present. It is hoped, the reader
will nevertlieless excuse the apparent episode, if the substance
of the former be repeated in this connection.

In 170S, the French in America, continued their aggressions
eastward. Having penetrated to Haverhill, on the Merrimack,
and reduced the town to ashes, it was then proposed by Colo-
nel Vetch, to subdue Acadia, Canada, and Newfoundland; an
attack was made upon Quebec, by a squadron with five regi-
ments from England, and 1200 provincials from Massachusetts
and Rhode Island, whilst 1500 men, under Colonels Vetch and
Nicholson, from the central colonies, attempted Montreal, by
way of Lake Charaplain. The inhabitants of New York en-
tered into this scheme with great alacrity — raised funds for
that purpose, and made other necessary preparations. The
Five JVafions, by the influence of Col, Peter Schuyler, had
been induced to take up the hatchet, and to send GOO warriors
to the field, leaving theirs to be maintained by the provincial
treasury.

At this critical juncture. Colonel Nicholson returned to Eng-
land to solicit further assistance; he was accompanied by Col.
Peter Schuyler, with four Sachems of the confederate Indians.
While in London, these chiefs saw the miserable condition in
which the Germans were ; for they had just arrived from Ger-
many, and encamped in the purlieus of London. The Indian
chiefs commisserated their case, and one of them voluntarily
presented Queen Ann a tract of his land in Schoharie, New
York, for tht> benefit of the distressed Germans, whose hearts
ached for a place of rest from oppression.

John Conrad Weiser was one of the deputies to Schoharie.
After they returned from the Mohawk or Maqua country, in
which Schoharie lay, many of the families moved from Living-
ston district in the autumn of 1713 ; some to Albany, others to
Schenectady, with a view of moving, the following spring, to
Schoharie. " Conrad's father also moved that fall, to Schenecf
tady, and remained with his family, during the winter, with
one Johannes Meynderten,. Here he was repeatedly visited
by an Indian chief, called Quagnant, of the Maqua or Mohawk

17*

198 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

nation. Quagnant proposed to take Coniad with him to his
own country, and teach him the language spoken by his nation.
The father acceded, and Conrad, the son, accompanied his fu-
ture instructor, and took lodings among the Indians,

While here, and acquiring a knowledge of the Mohawk lan-
o-uao-e, his sufferings, according to Weiser's own JRurnaJ, were
almost intolerable. He had scarce clothes enough to cover his
nudity, much less to protect him securely against the inclemency
and piercing cold of a severe winter; and he was afterwards
pressed by hunger, in addition to the pinchings of frost — and
still to heighten the keen sufferings of the stranger and scholar,
he was repeatedly menaced with death by the inebriate Indians,
to escape which, he had frequently to flee and conceal himself,
till reason was restored, and "a sober second thought" had re-
strained the execution of their threats. While the young suf-
ferer was among the savages, his father moved in the spring of
1714, from Schenectady to Schoharie, being accompanied by
one hundred and fifty German families.

In the month of July, 1714, having spent the winter with
Quagnant, Conrad returned to his father's house. Having,
however, acquired considerable knowledge of the Mohawk lan-
guage. At home, he perfected his knowledge of that language,
by being repeatedly called on to act as interpreter between the
German settlers and the Maqua or Mohawk Indians. Several
families of the Maqua nation, lived within a mile of his Other's
house. He complains, however, in his journal, that he had to
interpret gratuitously. " So lagen auch allezeit Maquaische
hie und wieder auf der Jagd, da es oefters was fehlte dass ich
viel zu dalmetschen hatte, aber ohne Lohn.'^ Poor recom-
pense.

The Germans, amid hardships, sufferings, and trials, with
which original settlers, in new countries, ever meet, made con-
siderable improvements. Their flattering prospects, however,
were blasted in their incipient efforts, and all their labor lost.
Owing to a defect in their titles to the land, which they had
with so much care and sohcitude improved, in not conforming
to the requisitions of the laws of New York, before they loca-
ted, to secure to themselves their improved lands. The Gov-
ernor of New York sold these lands in Schoharie, to seven
wealthy merchants, four of whom resided in Albany, and three
in the town of New York ; those of the "former place, were

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 199

Meyndert Shyller, John Shyller, Robert Livingston,* and Peter
Non Brughen; those of New York, were George Clark, the
Secretary of the Province, Doctor Stads, and Rip Yon Darn. —
This caused a great excitement at the time, both at Schoharie
and at Albany. There were many at Albanv, anxious to see
it, that the poor Germans might retain the hmd. The Ger-
mans, at Schoharie, were divived in opinion — two parties arose —
the stronger refused to submit, wherefrom they sent tluee depu-
ties, or commissioners, to England, to appeal to King George
the first. The deputies sailed fiom Philailelphia, in 1818; but
they had scarcely left Delaware 15ay, when the vessel in which
they sailed, was surprised and captured by pirates. John Con-
rad Weiser — Conrad's father — one of the deputies, was tied
three times by the pirates, and bastinaded, with a view to com-
pel him to give up what money he might have; he would not
yield. William SchafF, another of the deputies, addressed the
pirates; stating, that the purse they had taken from him, was
theirs in common — that the bounden man had no more to give ;
.whereupon they left the vessel.

They were now compelled — having been robbed of all their
provisions — to sail into Eoston harbor, to procure a fresh sup-
ply. They then sailed for England — but to their sorrov/, regret,
and great disappointment, times had changed since the demise
of Queen Ann. They found but few fiiends; among these were
the Reads, Boehmand Roberts, Chaplains at St. James. These
did all that lay in their power, to bring their case before the
Lords, Commissioners of Trade and Plantations.

The consideration of the deputies was deferred, from time to
time, till they were involved in debt, and in great difficulties.

Mr. Walrath, the other deputy, resolved to return to Amer-
ica, He embarked for New York, but died before he arrived.
Weiser and Schaflf were imprisoned for debt. They wrote to
their friends, at Schoharie, for money, but owing to the treach-
ery of some, the forwarding of money was deferred: in the

* Robert Livingston was also the proprietor of Livingston Manor, or Dis-
trict, mentioned above, and originally contained that tract of land in Colum-
bia county, New York, what now composes the township of Livingston,
Taghkanie, Copake, Ancram, Gallatin, Clermont, and Germantown. —
The royal grants to R. Livingston, are dated respectively 1684, and I681J,
and were confirmed in 1714.

In June, 1710, seventy of the Palatines sent out by Queen Ann, settled in
'German township, then paTt of Livingston Manor — among these was Weiser.

200 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

meantime, the Governor of New York appeared before the
Lords of Trade and Plantations, while the deputies were still
in prison; of course nothing to relieve them was eflected. Ul-
timately, the money they had written for, was received ; and
the two deputies paid their debt, and were released. They now
supplicated — de novo — finally, they received an order on the
new Governor, William Burnet, (of New York,) who was
requested to grant the Germans such lands as were not disposed
of, which had been presented to Queen Ann by the Indian Sa-
chem, for' the beneht of the Germans. Towards the close of
1720, said William Eurnet arrived at New York,

Conrad Weiscr, in his private journal, says, "I was sent, in
the early part of 1721, to New York, to said Governor Bur^
net, to hand him a petition. He received me kindly, and in-
formed me that he had received instructions from the Lords of
Trade, w'hich he had resolved to follow implicitly,"

The two surviving deputies were still in England, and were
quite dissatisfied with what had been done, but could effect
nothing more. In 1721, Schalf being displeased with John
Conrad Weiser, returned. "Siehatten," says Conrad, "beide
harte Koepfe." Both were obstinate. Finally, Mr. Weiser
returned in November, 1723. Schaff died six months after his
arrival.

Governor Burnet granted patents to the few who agreed to
settle in the Mohawk country, in Stoncy. Arabia,* or near the
Falls;! but as only a few Avere disposed to settle at the Falls,
some moved to the Mohawk country, others remained at Scho-
harie— some having heard favorable reports of lands in Penn-
sylvania, turned their faces thitherward. They united; wend-
ing their course in a southeastern direction, till they struck the
Susquehanna river, wheie they made canoes; these they freight-
ed with their children and effects — floated down on the broad
bosom of the river, to the mouth of the Swatara creek; thence
they W'Orked their way up, till they reached a fertile spot in
Tulpehocken — settled in the spring of 172-3, in the midst of the
Indians. Here they also commenced improvements, without
permission from the Land Commissioners,"

Conrad Weiser having married his beloved Anna Eva, (tlie
daughter of respectable Christian parents,) the 22d Nov. 1720,

* Now in Montgomery county, N. Y.
t Falls in the Mohawk river.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 201

while his father was in England ; and having settled in life, and
being employed as interpreter, he remained at Schoharie till
1729, when he, with his wife and five children, his sons Philip
and Frederick, and daughters Anna, Madlina and Maria, fol-
lowed his relations and friends at Tulpehocken, and chose this
valley as his future residence; he located liimself half a mile
east of the present site of Wommelsdorf.*

Conrad Weiser, as occasion demanded it, acted in various,
both private and public capacities. Few men were more useful
in his day and generation, than he. Though he had determined
to spend his remaining days in private, his talents soon attracted
the attention of his own countrymen, as well as those of his
adopted country.

In August, 1730, John Peter Miller, a native of Oberant
Lantern, of the Electoral Palatinate, and a graduate of the
University of Heidelberg, arrived in Philadelphia, and there
made application to the Scotch Synod, for clerical ordination.
Before receiving ordination, a question for discussion was pro-
posed, and in answering it, showed he was a man of ]-are en-
dowments. "We gave him, says Rev. Andrews, in a letter to
a friend, "a question to discuss about juHi/icaiio7i, and he an-
swered it, in a whole sheet, in a very notable manner. He
speaks Latin as reaihly as we do our vernacular tongue."

Shortly after his ordination, Mr. Miller visited Mr. Weiser,
at Heidelberg. Here Mr. Miller labored as a minister of the
gospel, among the Germans, for several years.

Weiser's skill, as an interpreter of the Indian language, was

* When writing the History of Lancaster county, page 184 in a note, au-
thority of " Family tradition," that Conrad Weiser's father come to Penn-
sylvania in 1723. This is an error. The Hallische Nachrichter enables us
to correct this. Dr. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg says, " In the )'^ear 1746,
came my wife's grandfather to my house; he had resided in New York since
1710, and lately on the borders of New England. He left that country on
account of the dangers which he apprehended from the French and Indians,
who had already murdered several German families. ?.Ioreover, he was
also anxious to see his children and grand-children, to converse with them
on the subject of religion, and to spend his last days, iinmolestedly, among
his kindred in Pennsylvania. He was very infirm and frail when he came,
and was confined in bed for some time after his arrival ; after he had ])een
somewhat convalescent, his son Conrad, my father-in-law, who resided at
Heidelberg, fifty miles off, sent a wagon with suitable bedding for them, —
He reached Heidelberg with much difficulty — lived but a short time after-
wards with his son — and fell asleep in death, in the presence of his weeping
•children and grand-children." He had lived to the age of between SO and
^0 years.— Hal. Naeh., p. 161-163.

202 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

soon known and appreciated. His services were required, in
that capacity, by the Hon. P. Gordon, Lieutenant Governor of
the province of Pennsylvania, as early as 1731. For that pur-
pose, Weiser accompanied Shekelemy and Cehachquey — Indi-
ans— from his residence, to Philadelphia.* He was repeatedly
called on, to act as interpreter, w^iile pursuing the improvement
of his farm. Weiser and Shekelemy were, by the treaty of
1732, appointed as fit and proper persons to go between the
Six; Nations and the Government, and to be employed in all
actions with one another, whose bodies, the Indians said, were
to be equally divided between them and us; we to have one-
half — that they (Indians) had found Conrad Weiser faithful and
honest — that he is a true, good man, and had spoken their
words, and our words, and not his own.f

Weiser was a man of integrit}-, and of unbounded benevo-
lence. He w^as disposed "to hope all things." He was easy
of access, and readily yielded to religious influences. He was
neither a rigid sectarian, nor a sanctimonious bigot ; though
educated a Lutheran, and thoroughly indoctrinated in the prin-
ciples of that church, he gave countenance to the sincere and
good of other denominations.

Several years after the arrival of the Rev. Miller, among the
Germans, at Heidelberg and Tulpehocken, a religious excite-
ment prevailed through that region ; scores imbibed the senti-
ments promulgated by Conrad Beisel, the founder of the "Ger-
man Seventh Day Baptist Association," at Ephrata."

Among the number of converts to that doctrine, were Miller
.and W^eiser, both of whom were initiated into that church, by
the ordinance of baptism, in May, 1735. Weiser soon forsook
the society, but Miller resorted to Ephrata, w^here he remained
till the day of his death, September 25, 1796.

George Thomas, Governor of the province of Pennsylvania,
tendered Weiser the appointment of Justice of Peace, which he
accepted, and soon after, he was appointed Indian agent and
interpreter, for which he was exceedingly well qualified. In
this, the threefold capacity, he rendered his country essential
service for many years. From this time forth, till the day of
his death, he commenced, and coi.tinued in a most actiye ca-
reer.

* Col. Rec, iii, 453.
j-Prov. Rec, Book P., p. 9C.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES* 203

In September, 1736, the chiefs of the Six Nations were ex-
pected in Philadelphia, to confirm a treaty that had been pre-
viously made in 1732. Weiser was active here, as we learn
from the Public Records. " Conrad Weiser, our interpreter,
about the beginning of September, 1736, advised from Tulpe-
hocken, that he had certain intelligence from some Indians, sent
before bun, that there was a large number of those people, with
many of the chiefs, arrived at Shamokin, on the Susquehanna,
upon which he was directed to repair thither to attend them,
and supply them with necessaries on their journey liere, (Phil-
adelphia.)

On the 27th September, the chiefs came with Conrad Weiser
to the President's house, at Stenton, being near the road, when
a suitable entertainment was provided for them; and the next
day, the honorable proprietor, Thomas Pcnn, and some of the
council, with other gentlemen, coming thither from Philadel-
phia; after dinner, a council was held at Stenton, September
28. The council continued till the 29th; then adjourned, to
meet Oct. 2d, in the Great Meeting House, in Philadelphia."*

Weiser attended the adjourned council.

A resolution was offered Oct. 4, 1736, "That Conrad Wei-
ser, the interpreter, who is extremely useful on all such occa-
sions—and on the present one has been very serviceable— there
be given him twenty pounds."!

In the year 1737, he was sent to Onondago, N. Y., at the
desire of the Governor of Virginia. He departed quite unex-
pectedly, towards the close of February, on a journey of five
hundred miles, through a wilderness, when there was neither
road nor path, and at a time of the year when arrivals could
not be met with for food. The sufferings and privations he en-
dured, were indescribably great. He gives a very interestincr
account of this journey, in a letter, which is inserted in a pre"-
vious page, (see p. 24, &c.)

The following year, in May, he again went to Onondago, in
company with Bishop Spangenberger, David Zeisberger, and
Jihebosch, Moravian Missionaries to the Indians. They suffered
many hardships, but experienced also, says Loskiel,| some re-

* Prov. Rec, Book P., p. 90.
t Prov. R-c, Eook I., p. 91.
I Loskiel's His. of Miss., P. 11., p. 79

204 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

markable joroofs of the kind Providence of God. Having been
without provisions for several days, they found a quarter of
bear, hung up for the use of travellers by an Indian hunter, who
could not carry it off, according to a prevalent custom among
the Indians — "When, says Loskiel, huntsmen kill a deer, they
take the skin and as much of the flesh as they can carry; the
rest they hang upon a tree for the use of such as pass that way."

Such timely relief they received more than once, and were
therefore encouraged to assist other hungry travellers whom
they met on the road. One day they found two Iroquis warri-
ors, who had lost all their provisions, were almost naked, and
had travelled nearly four hundred miles. One of them was also
on the road to Onondago. Conrad Wilson asked him how he
intended to reach that place in such a situation? His answer
Avas: "God, who dwells in heaven, has created the earth and
all creatures therein, and he feeds numbers of men and beasts
in the wilderness," He can and will feed me also. While
they were in company with Weiser and his companions, they
received their full share out of the common kettle, and thus he
was fed according to his faith. Weiser cites this (see p. 2-5, 26,)
as an illustration of the Indian's belief in the Providence of God.

Though an active and efficient pubhc officer, still his mind was
not so wholly engrossed as to give no heed, or devote some
time to religious matters. He not only accompanied the Mo-
ravian missionaries to Onandago; but in August, 1742, we
find him again at Bethlehem, where he set out in company with
Count Zinzendorf, who had just lately arrived in America, for
Tulpehocken, to render the Count all necessary aid, affording
him an opportunity of preaching to the Indians. On the 14th
of August, they met a numerous embassy of Sachems, or heads
of the Six Nations, returning from Philadelphia. Though they
were "extremely mild, and had on the same day, shot one of
their own people, Zinzendorf would not omit so good an op-
portunity of preaching the gospel, but desired Conrad Weiser
to tell them, that he had a word from God to them, and their
nations, which he and his brethren, Avould proclaim to tliem;
further, that his intention was neither to buy land, nor to trade,
but to point out to them the way to everlasting life. Conrad
Weiser added : "This is the man whom God hath sent, both to
the Indians and the white people, to make known his will to

HISTO&Y OF BtRKS AN© LEBANON COUNTIES. 205

■them," confirming his words, after the Indian custom, by a
present of a piece of red cloth.*

Shortly after this, Weiser accompanied the Count to Sha-
•mokin, where they were kindly receired by Shikelimus. After
spending some time here, Weiser returned again to Tulpehocken
settlement.

In January, 1743, at the request of Gorernor Thomas Wei-
ser, again set out for Shamokin. In his journal, he says: — "On
the 30th of January, 1743, in the erening, I received the Gov-
ernor's order, together with the deposition of Thomas McKee,
and set out next morning with Mr. McKee for Shamokin, where
we arrived on the first of February. I left Shamokin the 6th,
and arrived at home in the night, the 9th of February.!

So deeply was Weiser interested in the success of the mis-
sionary etforts of the Moravians, in converting them to Chris-
tianity, that aside from accompanying the heralds of the cross,
he devoted much time to teachino^ them the Indian lano-uaire. —
Pyrlacus, who arrived with Buettnerand Zander, from Europe,
in October, 1741, as missionaries, to convert the Mahikander
and Delaware nations, resolved to preach the gospel to the
Iroquois nation; however, as a thorough knowledge of the
Maqua or Mohawk language was required, to be able to preach
the gospel to them, Pyrlacus went to Tulpehocken settlement,
to the house of Conrad, in 1743, where he remained three
months to study this language with him. Weiser's superior
skill as a qualfied instructor, soon enabled his pupil to master
the language, so as to adilress the tawny sons of that nation ;
and with that view, he afterwards moved with his wife into the
■interior part of the Iroquois country, and took up his abode
with the English missionaries, in Juntarogu. Conrad Weiser
had, says Loskiel, an inclination to follow Pyrlacus, and on his
way, called at Shamokin. His astonishment, at what he saw
and heard at this place, is evident, from the following letter to
another of the missionaries, namely Buettner, who was stationed
at Shamokin :

" I was very sorry not to have seen you at Shemoken, owing
to your indisposition. But the pleasure I felt, during my abode
there, has left a deep impression upon me. The faith of the

* Loskiel, P. ii., chap. 2, p. 27.
\ Prov. Rec, Book K, p. 276.

18

4UU HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Indians in our Lord Jesus Christ — their simphcity and unaf-
fected deportment — their experience of the grace procured for
lis by the sufferings of Jesus, preached to them by the brethren,
has impressed my mind with a firm behef, that God is with
you. I thought myself seated in a company of primitive chris-
tians.

" The old men sat partly upon benches, and partly upon the
ground, for want of room, with great gravity and devotion^
their eyes steadfastly fixed upon their teacher, as if they would
eat his words. John was the interpreter, and acquitted him-
self in the best manner. I esteeni him as a man annointed with
grace and spirit. Though I am not well acquainted with the
Mahikander language, yet their peculiar manner of delivery
renders their ideas intelligible to me, as to any European in this
country. In short, I deem it one of the greatest favors be-
stowed upon me in this life, that I have been at Shamokin.

" That text of scripture, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and to day, and for ever," appeared to me as an eternal truth,
when I beheld the venerable patriarchs of the American Indian
church sitting around me, as living witnesses of the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his atoning sacrifice. Their
prayers are had in remembrance in the sight of God — and may
God fight against their enemies. May the Almighty give to
you and your assistants an open door to the hearts of all the
heathens. This is the most earnest wish of your sincere friend,

Conrad Weiser."

In April, 1743, he went again, in a public capacity, to Sha-
mokin, on affairs of Virginia and Maryland. He says: —
"April 9th, I arrived at Shamokin, by order of the Governor of
Pennsylvania, to acquaint the neighboring Indians, and those
on Wyoming, that the Governor of Virginia was well pleased
with the mediation, and was willing to come to agreement with
the Six Nations about the land his people were settled upon, if
it was that they contended for, and to make up the matter of
the late unhappy skirmish, in an amicable way,"

In June, he went to Onondago, in obedience to the orders
of the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania. Of this journey
there is a full report, and of the proceedings, in the Provincial
Records, Book K., p. 280, 283, 287.

As stated above, the governor of Virginia proposed to ad-

HISTORY OF BERKS ANIJ LEBANON COUNTIES. 207

Just all amicably, and the Indians acceded to attend a treaty to
"be held the spring following, at Lancaster; in the interval an
occurreucetookplace, and Weiser was again obliged to go toSha-
jnokin. April, 1744, Governor Thomas received a letter dated,
April 22, Lancaster, signed by Cookson, stating that John
Armstrong, an Indian trader, with his two servants. Wood-
ward Arnold, and James Smith, had been murdered at Juniata,
by three Delaware Indians; he was despatched to the chiefs of
the Delaware Indians, at Shacaokin, to make strict enquiry,
which resulted in the apprehension of the murderer, who was
imprisoned at Lancaster, and from that removed to Philadel-
phia, to await his trial.*

When the time arrived for the conference, or treaty, to be
held at Lancaster, which took place, it was attended by the Gov-
ernor himself, in person, and agents of Virginia and Maryland;
Conrad Weiser attended as interpreter. Here all matters of
dispute between the parties were satisfactorily settled. Weiser
was paid £15 3^. 6d., to defray the expenses of the treaty .f

From, and after 1743, Conrad Weiser did not, so efficiently
as formerly, co-operate with the Moravians. Whatever may
have led him to measureably, if not wholly, decline acting m
concert with them, it was probably ownng to the fact, that pub-
lic business demanded naore of his attention, and that he de-
voted himself more to sustaining the church of his fathers; for
an effort was made, at that time, by the Rev. Muhlenberg,
who had arrived fiom Europe in 1742, as the Apostle of Lu-
theranism in America, to build up their churches; and in conse-

* In a letter to a friend, Weiser says, alluding to this occurrence — ^the
death of John Armstrong, &c. — "After I had performed my errand, there
%vas a feast prepared, to which the Governor's messengers were invited ,
there were about one hundred persons present; to whom, after we had, in
great silence, devoured a fat bear, the oldest of the chiefs made a speech, in
which he said : ' That by a great misfortune, three of the brethren — the
ta?iite men — had been killed by an Indian ; that nevertheless, the sun was
not set; (meaning there was no war,) it had only been somewhat darkened
by a small cloud, which was now done away; he that done evil was likely
to be punished, and the land to remain in peace; therefore, he exhorted his
people to thankfulness to God ; and he began to sing with an awful solemni-
ty, but without expressing any words; the others accompanied him with
their voices; after they had done, the same Indian, with great earnestness
and fervor, spoke these words : Thanks, thanks be to thee, thou great Lord
of the World, in that thou hast again caused the sun to shine, and hast dis-
persed the dark cloud — the Indians are thine.' "

J- Vfltes of Assembly, III, p. 546— Gordon's Pa., 247

208 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

quence, from his success, is justly entitled to the appellation of
"Patriarch of the American Lutheran Church." He visited
the Tulpehocken settlement in 1743, where he formed the ac-
quaintance of Conrad Weiser, and a connection that would na-
turally enlist his feelings, and secure his efforts, in building up
and sustaining the Lutheran church, in preference to any
other.

Muhlenberg, Weiser's son-in-law, alluding to this circum'
stance, says: "Im Jahr, 1743, ward unser Freund, Conrad
Weiser, bekannt mit dem ersten hereingesandten Deutschen
Evangelischen Prediger, gewan ihn und seine Lehre lieb und
gab ihm 1745, seine aelteste Tochter zur, Ehegenossin. Diese
Freundschafts-Verbindung verursachte dann und wann einen
Besuch und eine anhaltende Correspondence; beide wurden, so
viel Gott Gnaden verlichen, auf die seelen-Erbau ung gerichtet
vobei er verschiedene Jahre ziemlich munter und lebhaft im
Glauben schien. Die heilige Bibel war ihm durch und durch
bekant. u. s. f.*

"In 1745, May 19, 1 set out," says Weiser, "for Onondago,
incompany with Shikelamy, one of the Indian chiefs, his son,
and Andrew Montour, and we arrived safe at Onondago on the
6th of June following. The 7th, early in the morning, Canas-
satego, Cahesh, Carrawano, the Black Briar, and Casehayion,
came to receive me and my company. The best part of the
day was spent with discourses concerning news, &c., &c."

It was probably while at Onondago this time, the current
anecdote, related by Dr. Franklin, touching Weiser and Canas-
satego, which is found in Drake's Indian Biography, Book V.,
p. 12, 13. As the editors of the valuable Encyclopedia Per-
thensis have thought this anecdote worthy a place in that
work, it has gained one here :

" Dr. Franklin tells us a very interesting story of Canassa-
tego, and at the same time makes the old chief tell another. —
In speaking of the manners and customs of the Indians, the
doctor says, "The same hospitality, esteemed among them as
a principal virtue, is practised by private persons; of which
Conrad Weiser, our interpreter, gave me the following instan-
ces : He had been naturalized among the Six Nations, and
spoke well the Mohawk language. In going through the In-
dian country, to carry a message from our governor to the

* Hal. Nach., p. 976.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 209

coijincil at Ononrlago, he called at the habitation of Canassate.-
go, an old acquaintance, who embraced him, spread furs for him
to sit on, placed before him some boiled beans, and venison, and
mixed some rum and water for his drink. When he was welj
refreshed, and had lit his pipe, Canassatego, began to converse
with him; asked how he had fared the many years since they
had seen each other ; whence he then came ; what occasioned
the journey, &c. Conrad answered all his questions; and when
the discourse began -to flag, the Indian to continue it, said,
* Conrad, you have lived long among the white people, and
know something of their customs: I have been sometimes at
Albany, and have observed, that once in seven days they shut
up their shops, and assemble in the great house; tell me what
that is for; what do they do there?' 'They meet there,' says
Conrad, 'to hear and learn good things.' 'I do not doubt,'
says the Indian, 'that they tell you so; they have told me the
same; but I doubt the truth of what they say, and I will tell
you my reasons. I went lately to Albany, to sell my skins,
and buy blankets, knives, powder, rum, &c. You know I used
generally to deal with Hans Hanson ; but I was a little inclined
this time to try some other merchants. However, I called first
upon Hans, and asked him what he would give for beaver. —
He said he could not give more than four shillings a pound; but
says he, I cannot talk on business now ; this is the day
when we meet too-ether to learn 2:ood thino-s, and I am sjoincf
to the meeting. So I thought to myself, smce I cannot do any
business to-day, I may as well go to the meeting too, and I
went with him. There stood up a man in black, and began to
talk to the people very angrily ; I did not understand what he
said, but perceiving that he looked much at me, and at Hansonj
I imagined that he was angry at seeing me there; so I went
out, sat down near the house, struck fire, and lit my pipe, wait-
ing till the meeting should break up. I thought too that the
man had mentioned something of beaver, and suspected it might
be the subject of their meeting. So wdien they came out, I ac-
costed my merchant. ' Well, Hans,' says I, ' I hope you have
agreed to give more than 4:S. a pound.' ' No,' says he, ' I
cannot give so much, I cannot give more than three shillings
and sixpence. I then spoke to several other dealers, but they
all sung the same song, — three and sixpence, three and six-
pence. This made it clear to me that my suspicion was right;

18*

210 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANOff COUNTIES.

and that whatever they pretended of meeting to learn good
things, the purpose was to consult how to cheat Indians in the
price of beaver. Consider but a little, Conrad, and you must
be of my opinion. If they met so often to learn good things,
they would certainly have learned some before this time. But
they are still ignorant. You know our practice. If a white
man, in travelling through ourcountry, enters one of our cabins,
we all treat him as I do you; we dry him if he is wet; we
warm him if he is cold, and give him meat and drink, that he
may allay his thirst and hunger; and we spread soft furs for him
to rest and sleep on: we demand nothing in return. But if I
go into a white man's house at Albany, and ask for victuals
and drink, they say, get out you Indian dog. You see they
have not yet learned those little good things, that we need no
meetings to be insiructed in, because our mothers taught them
to us when we were children; and therefore it is impossible their
meetings should be, as they say, for any such purpose, or have
any such effect*, they are only to contrive the cheating of In-
dians in the price of beaver.' "

In June, 1747, he again started for Shamokin, charged with
a message to the Indians there to notify them of the death of
the late Proprietary, John Penn. In his report of this mission,
to the Secretary; Weiser says, that in his journey to Shamokin,
in obedience to the command of the President and Council, he
fortunately met, at Chamber's mill, in Pextang, with Shikela-
my and several Indians, among whom was Scaienties, a man of
note, of the Cayuga nation, which accidental meeting ren-
dered it unnecessary for him to go farther, he here Communi-
cated them the message, &c.*

The reader, it is believed, will excuse the apparent episode,
in giving a place to an extract from the Hallische JVachrich-
ten, containing Weiser's views, as to instructing the Indians in
the doctrines of Christianity; and to show that he was fearless
in the discharge of public duty, as a Justice of Peace.

"July 5, 1747, I (Muhlenberg) preached at Northkill, in
Bethel township, Lancaster county, (now Berks,) on the gos-
pel, of the lost and found sheep, Luke~ xv. — baptized several
children — confirmed some of the young people — there was
much and deep religious feeling — dispersed the Lord's Supper.
In the afternoon hastened to another appointment, eight miles
* Prov. Rec , Book L., p. 7

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 211

oif, to Tulpehocken, to preach at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. —
Having preached and taken my leave from the congregation,
and in going with my father-in-law, Conrad Weiser, to his house,
"we overtook an Indian chief, who was accompanied by his son
and son-in-law, on his way to Mr. Weiser's, to confer with
him concerning some lands."

"If we consider," says M., " the blindness and darkness in
spiritual matter, of those Indians, we feel disposed to deplore
their condition ; because we have the light of the gospel, but
we generally love darkness rather than light." The French
Papists, many years ago, made an effort to convert the Cana-
dian Indians to Christianity, but succeeded illy, because several
of their missionaries violated the seventh commandment.

According to Mr. Weiser's statement, our Indains are very
astute and witty in natural things — of quick perception; and
although they cannot write, they retain much of the past his-
tory ; because they handed it down^by oral tradition, from one
generation to another. They generally entertain deep-rooted
prejudices against the whites, and mistrust them greatly, saying
the whites had crept out of the earth on the other side of the
great deep, and they on this side. The whites should have
reemained on their own ground, whence they came, and there
maintain themselves as they do on theirs. That the whites
came for no other purpose to this country, than to take away
their lands — and have spoiled their hunting ground, and thus
made life a burden, by rendering the procuring of game and
fish more arduous, in order to supply their natural wants. —
They also complain that decease is more common among them
since the introduction of intoxicating liquors.

If an attempt is made to instruct them in the truths con-
tained in the revealed word of God, it is impracticable to do it
with any degree of success, for the want of suitable terms or
words to convey to their mind spiritual perception. Natural
theology, and the historical portions of scripture might be
tau2;ht them to a considerable extent in their own lanafuaore,
scanty as it is.

Mr. Weiser made repeated efforts, yet in a great degree,,
without much success, to communicate to them, historical facts
from the writings of Moses. They invariably replied : — "This
may all be true, and it is likely the Great Spirit may have re-,
vealed this to you on the other side of the great water; but it

212 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

does not concern us. Our God has revealed to lis, on this side
of the great water, something else; do you adhere to what has
been revealed to you, and we will hold to that which has been
revealed to us."

Mr. Weiser is of the opinicn, that to convert them to Chris-
tianity, it would be essential, among other methods, to adopt
something like the following:

1. Several missionaries should take up their abode in the
midst of the Indians, and strive to make themselves tho^
roughly masters of their language — conform as far as possible
to their costumes, manners and customs, yet reprove their na-
tural vices by a holy, meek, and virtuous deportment.

2. Translate revealed truth into their own language, and
present the whole as intelligibly as possible.

8. The missionaries should study the Indian's tunes and me-
lodies, and convey to them the law and gospel, in such tunes
and melodies, in order to make an abiding impression — and
thereby, under the blessings and increase of God, patiently wait
for th-e fruits of their labors.

Weiser, as a justice of the peace, was fearless in the discharge
of his duty. He incurred the displeasure of the lawless. Muh-
lenberg says, in the Hallische Nachrichten, p. 209 — an attempt
was made to fire his house in 1747.

" There was a certain family living in the neighborhood of
my father-in-law, Conrad Weiser, against whom he pronounced
the sentence of the law for a certain tlas^rant violation thereof.
Shortly afterwards, the doors and the windows of his house
v>'ere fastened, by some ill-disposed persons, in the night, and a
large heap of straw, with other coinbustibles, was placed under
the roof of the portico, and fire set to it. The smoke, and the
noise of the burning roof, wakened one of the chikhen, who
aroused the other inmates instantly. But as the doors had
been fastened, they were obliged to force their way through
the window, to extinguish the fire. Thus they narrowly es-
caped— his whole family were in danger of being consumed,
except two chihh-en, who had gone to a neighbor's house before
night, and remained there.

In November of the same year, he was sent upon another
mission to Shamokin ; the object of the mission was to admin-
ister relief to some of the suffering Indians there. " On the
6th of Oct., 1747," says Weiser, "I set out for Shamokin, by

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 213'

way of Pextang— the weather was bad. I arrived at Shamo-
kin on the 9th, about noon; I was surprised to see ShikaUmy
in such a condition as my eyes beheld. He was hardly able to
stretch forth his hand, to bid me welcome. In the same con-
dition was his wife — his three sons not quite so bad, but very
poorly ; also one of his daughters, and two or three of his grand-
children. All had the fever. There were three buried out of
the family, a few days before, namely: Cajadis, Shikalimy's
son-in-law, who had been married to his daughter above fifteen
years, and w-as reckoned the best hunter among all the Indians,
nnd two others. I administered medicine to them, under the
directions of Dr. Graeme."* Shikalimy soon recovered from
his sickness. Weiser returned, and arrived at home the 15th
of October; but we soon find him again at Paxton, or Harris'
Ferry.

Paxton, Nov. 28, 1747.
Richard Peters, Esq.

Sir : — Last night I arrived here with the Indians, all in good
health but Canachquasy, the speaker.

Scaiohady told Shikalimy at my house, very privately, that
Peter Chartier and his company, had accepted of the French
hatchet : but kept it in their bosom till they would see what
interest they could make in favor of the French.

Yours, &c.,

Conrad Weiser.

This was a manifesto of what was brooding among the In-
dians, and the dangers apprehended from Indian hostilities., in-
duced the Assembly to use every exertion to secure the aid of
those not yet disaffected, and if possible, to gain over the dis-
alfected. The government had a subtle enemy to fear, "for
the Indians were well disposed to make the most of their fears
of their good friends, the whites; and by continual suggestions
of their inability long to resist the French, who endeavored to
intimidate them by threats, and to seduce them by promises,
they gave occasions for new conferences, which were always
accompanied by presents. Distant and vagrant tribes, also,
sent their ambassadors, proffering friendship, and soliciting the
bounty of the Province,"

* Prov. Rec, Book L., p. 7.
t Prov. Rec, Book L., p. 145.

214 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

"Some Indians, on the banks of the Ohio, connected with
the Six Nations, visited Philadelphia, to tender their homage,
and to invite the Province to send commissioners to a council
fire, at which the neighboring nations were to be present. Im-
pressed with the importance of such a conference, the council
invited the governments of Maryland and Virginia to send their
agents, and to unite in preparing a suitable present. On the
part of Pennsylvania, goods were provided to the amount of
ten thousand pounds, and Conrad Weiser was selected as envoy.
He was charged to obtain a perfect knowledge of the pumbers,
situation, disposition and strength of the Indians of the vicinity;
W'hether friends, neutrals or enemies; what reliance might be
placed upon them to protect the Province against the French."
Previous to his entrance upon his journey w^estward, Weiser
consulted the friendly Indians, as is evident from the following
■communication :

TuLPEHOcKEN, March 28, 1748.
Richard Peters, Esq., Secretary of Pa.*
Sir —
I let you know by these lines, that Shikalimy, with his eldest
son, came dawn from Shamokin, at my request. They arriv€'d
this afternoon. I wanted to consult with him about the journey
to Ohio, and to hear what passes among the Indians on Sus-
quehanna river, and elsewhere.

Yours, &c.,

Conrad Weiser.

On the receipt of this communication, Mr. Peters wrote to
Weiser, requesting him to come forthwith to Philadelphia — he
accordingly went, and spent a few days. In the meantime, he
took prehminary measures to biing things to a happy issue.
Under date of loth June, 1748, Weiser again addresses the
Secretary :

" Last night arrived at my house, Fanataraykon, Sogogock-
iathen, Achnoara, Kattake, and Sanagaranet, sent by Shikali-
my, to infoim me that a message from the Six Nations was
sent, &c."t

On the 23d of the iiionth, Weiser attended the council at

* Prov, Rec. Book, L., p. 211.
t Ibid, 320.

iyriSTORY OF BEfiKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 215

Philadelphia. " He and Andrew Montour were without, but
were called in; and Mr. Weiser presented Mr. Montour to the
Board, as a proper person who might be of service to the Pro-
vince, as an Indian interpreter and messenger; informing them
that he had employed him in sundry affairs of consequence, and
found him faitl)ful, knowing and prudent — that he had engaged
him for his own private information^ as Andrew lives among the
Six Nations, between the branches of the Ohio and Lake
Erie, &c."

At this time, Weiser received special instruction. The in-
structions were handed him in writing, and are as follows:

"Sir — This Government having promised the Inciians, who
came from Ohio in November last, to send you to them, early
in the Spring, and having provided a present of considerable
value, you are to proceed thither, with all convenient despatch.
Mr. George Croghan, the Indian trader, who is well acquainted
with the Indian country, and the best roads to Ohio, has un-
dertaken the convoy of you and the goods, with his own man
and horses, at the public expense, &c.

These instructions had been drawn up in March previous,
when Mr. Weiser was on the point of going to Ohio, and laid
before the Assembly in May; but his journey being postponed,
for reasons set forth, were not sooner delivered to him.*

August 11th, 1748, Weiser set out from his house for Ohib;
travelled that day about thirty miles; staid all night at the
house of James Galbraith, in Cumberland county, east Penns-
boro township. His jourf'al of this mission, is replete with
thrilling incidents. The want of space allows no extracts here.
Weiser returned from Ohio, and arrived at home September 29,
1748.t

Notwithstanding the efforts made on the part of the govern-
ment to quiet the Indians, they committed depredations. In
order to adopt decisive measures, the Secretary of the Pro-
vince, Mr. Richard Peters, and Conrad Weiser, were directed
to proceed to Cumberland county in 1749, to expel some white
intruders, who caused the Indians great uneasiness, and induced
them to commit depredations. Peters and Weiser were joined
by the magistrates of the county, the delegates from the Six

* Prov Rec. Book, 334.

t The writer has transcripts of several of Weiser's journal, aihounting to
several hundred ordinary sized pages.

'21^ HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Nations, a chief of the Mohawks, and Andrew Montour, lis
interpreter from the Ohio.*

About this time, Weiser was nearly constantly abroad in the
discharge of the public duty as Indian agent. In the month of
August, 17r30, he undertook a journey to Onondago, with a
message from the Honorable Thomas Lee, Esq., President ol
Virginia, to the Indians there.

Place is given to a brief abstract from his journal : — August
15, 1750, I set out in the afternoon, from my house at Heidel-
berg, came to Reading on Schuylkill, 14 miles. The 17th, to
Nazanth, 27 miles. The 18th, to Nicholas Depue, in Smith-
field, on the Delaware, 30 miles. The 19th, to Henry Cort-
recht, at the Minisinks, 20 miles. The 20th, to Emanuel Pas-
cal, 35 miles. The 21st, to Kingston, 44 miles. The 22d,
rain all day. The 23d, crossed Hudson's river, came to Rein-
beck, 10 miles. The 24th, came to the Manor of Livingston,
18 miles. The 25th, came to Albany, 24 miles. Sunday 26,
met Henry Peters and Nickas, two chiefs of the Mo-
hawks, &c."

In this journey, he had an interview with Livingston, and
Col. Johnson. On page 89, he recommends to John Pickert,
his sisters son, to learn the Mohawk tongue perfect among the
Indians, to serve as an interpreter for Pennsylvania. Pickert's
father resided one mile from Canawadagy.

Sept. 21, Weiser went towards Schoharie or Huntersfield —
he spent some time here. Arrived at home, Oct. 1, 1750.t

In June, 1751, he again went to Albany, to meet the In-
dians there on public business.| July, 1753, he went once
more to the Mohawk country. " Jul)' 24, 1753, I set out
from my house in Heidelberg, in Berks county ; anived at Phil-
adelphia the 26. August 1, I arrived at New York — being
taken ill, I sent my son Sammy with one Henry Van den Ham,
to Flushing, on Long Island, to wait on Governor Clinton, to
deliver Hamilton's letters. August 7, took passage board a
sloop to Albany." After transacting his business, he returned
to Philadelphia, where he arrived August 30th. §

About this tii^e, a society of noblemen and gentlemen of

*t?ordon'sPa., 260.

t Prov. Rec, book M., p. 84.

t Ibid, 133.

^ Ibid, 341.

ttlStORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 217

London, England, formed a scheme for the relief and instruc-
tion of poor Germans, and their descendants, settled in Penn-
sylvania, and considering that they resided too great a distance
to know where schools were most needed, they appointed a
Board of Trustees General, for the management of their scheme;
Conrad Weiser was appointed as one of them — his colleagues
were Gov. James Hamilton, Chief Justice Allan, Richard Pe-
ters, Secretary of the Land Office, Benjamin Franklin, Esq.,
and the Rev. William Smith, D. D. This board appointed
the Rev. Michael Schlatler, Visitor General.*

In 1755, during the alarms on the frontiers, Weiser was ap-
pointed Colonel of a regiment of volunteers from Berks county.
He exerted himself by day and night in the protection of his
suffering fellow citizens, and repelhng the savage Indians in
their incursions. He was vigilant, brave and active. See his
numerous letters on this subject, in preceding pages 33 to 79,
inclusive. A number of forts and block houses were put up
under his directions, on the frontiers of Lancaster and Berks.

During the Indian and French war, he had command of the
second battalion of the Pennsylvania regiment, consisting of
nine companies. These he distributed very judiciously — he
stationed one company at Fort Augusta, one at Hunter's mills,
seven miles above Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna, one half
company on the Swatara, at the foot of the North Mountain,
one company and a half at Fort Henry, close to the gap of the
mountain, called the Tolhea Gap, one company at Fort Wil-
liam, near the forks of the Schuylkill river, six miles beyond
the mountain, one company at Fort Allen, erected by Benj.
Franklin, at Gnadenhurlen, on the Lehigh, t^e other three
companies were scattered between the rivers Lehigh and Dela-
ware, at the dispositions of the captains, some at farm houses,
others at mills, from three to twenty in a place.f

During the period of the French and Indian war, he attended
many treaties and conferences. In November 1755, he at-
tended the meetings of the Council at Philadelphia.! In Jan-
uary, 1756, he attended an Indian conference at John Harris'
Ferry. "January 29, 1756, I set out from my house with a

* The reader is referred to precsdiag pages, 99, 109, for a particular ac-
count of this scheme,
t Gordons Pa. p. 341.
f See preceeding page, 51.

20

218 histoAy of berks and Lebanon counties;

hired man; arrived at Harris' Ferry the 30th, being >ainy
weather. I met the Indians that evening, acquainted them that
I was sent, &c. Early in the morning, on the olst, I met them
in the Belt's cabin, &c. In July, 1756, he was interpreter at
a council held at Easton.* Next year, 1757, he attended the
Indian treaty held at Lancaster, May 29, and another at Eas-
ton, held in August; on all these occasions he was inter-
preter.

At this time he had taken his residence! '^^ the town of
Reading, where he still acted as Indian agent, and in the ca-
pacity of commissary ; having plenary powers granted for that
purpose, as appears from the following document:

( " ] William Denny.

I^y the Honorable William Denny, Esq., Governor and Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and coun-
ties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware.
Whereas, Brigadier General Stanwix hath represented to
me, that his Majesty's service is in immediate want of a num-
ber of wagons and horses, for the transportation of provisions,
and other necessaries for the army under his command, and
that he hath contracted with Conrad Weiser, Esq., of the coun-
ty of Berks, to supply the quota assigned to be raised, within
the said county of I3erks, to grant unto the said Conrad Wei-
ser, impress warrants, in case he shall at any time find himself
obliged to apply to the said justices for the same. These are,
therefore, in his Majesty's name, and in pursuance of the Act
of Assembly, to require you to issue your warrants to the con-
stables within your respective districts, for the impressing of
as many wagons as shall at any time be demanded by the said
Conrad Weiser, or his deputies, in order to enable him and
them to carry on the King's service according to his contract.
Hereof fail not, as you will answer to the contrary at your
peril.

* Prov. Rec, Book 0, p. 23.

t " On the corner of Penn and Callowhill streets, stood Weiser's house. —
In old times it was the principal hotel in the place. Here the war-song of
the savage was sung — the war-dance wound down, and the calumet of peace
finally smoked." — Reading Times.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES 119

Given under my hand and seal at arms, at Philadelphia, the
ninth day of June, Anno. Dom., 1759, in the sixty-second year
of his Majesty's reign.

To the Justices of Peace for the county of Berks.

William Denny.

His opinion touching public as well as private affairs, was
always regarded, and in emergencies, he was freely consulted.
The following is a case in point. We quote an extract of the
proceedings of the Provincial Council held in Philadelphia.

" Sept. 19, 1759, Mr. Weiser was sent for, and desired to
give his sentiments about the request of Teedpuscung, an In-
dian chief, for fixing a certain price for scalps, and that the
Governor would send him a black belt to give to the Dela-
wares, and the Ten Confederate Nations, to go to war against
the French ; and secondly, on building an Indian Fort and
houses for the Delawares, and appointing a proper j^erson to
direct and superintend the works."

On this occasion he wished it, as a favor, to be permitted to
give his views in writing, which he did as follows:

September, 19, 1759.
May it please your Honor: —

I have weighed the discourse about Indian affairs, at this
time passed in your Honor's presence ; it is my humble opinion,
that no encouragement should be given to the Indians for scalps,
for fear we must then pay for our own scalps, and those of our
fellow subjects, as will certainly be the case; allow as much
for prisoners as you please, rather more than was intended.

Great caution should be used in requiring the Indians to be
settled on Wyomink, to take up the hatchet against the French
and their Indian allies, for fear they will have it to say, that
we made peace with them in order to make them fight our bat-
tles, and to make them a barrier and throw away their lives,
by setting them against the French, and their numerous allies.
The Ohio Indians will say, we will rather stay where we are,
we are on the strongest side now, and will not hazard our lives
and families in breaking w4th the French, in favor of the En-
glish, who have been beaten several times, and are not likely
to do any thing for themselves.

I am in a very low state of health, and cannot without gre^l

220 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

hazard undertake any journey; besides, if the Six Nations
should not be pleased with the building of a Fort at Wyomink,
they would blame me more than any body else, because they
would have it to say, that I knew their rights, &c. Though I
believe if the building of a Fort at Wyomink is cautiously car-
ried on, merely for the use of the Indians, and left to them when
finished, all will be well.

A trading house at Fort Augusta, should immediately be
erected, else our Indian interest, what little we may yet have,
will be entirely lost. If the Government cannot agree about
the condition, some well disposed men should be appointed to
keep stores at Fort Augusta, and furnish the Indians with what
they want, clothing especially, as they must be for the most
part naked at this time. This article requires all possible care
and speed.

Rum should not be allowed to be sold or given by any li-
censed trader. A Uttle, or just a dram, might be given by the
commanding officer of Fort Augusta, and he to deny obstinately,
and absolutely a second ; and the Indians will like it the better,
when they judge of the thing coolly, and by themselves.

Sir William Johnson, or rather the Six Nations, by means
of Sir William, should be made acquainted with this, and be
told, it was done at the request of our Brethren, the Delaware
Indians; and that we claim no right, by means of that Fort, to
the lands of Wyomink, but leave the fort to be possessed and
defended by the Indians.

Conrad Weiser.

From the preceding communication we learn, that Weiser's
health began to fail him. '• / am," says he, " in a very low
state of health, Src. Even at the time he accepted the ap-
pointment of Colonel, he was infirm, yet, remarkable as it may
appear, discharged efficiently and ably, all the ardent and re-
sponsible duties devolving upon him, as a soldier. Justice of
the peace, and interpreter, to the satisfaction of the Govern-
ment. Before his appointment as Colonel, he had resolved to
live relired. His patriotism would not, though he made
great sacrifices of comfort and gain, suffer him to enjoy the
ease and quiet of life, so desirable when on the verge of three
score years.

"AIs aber," says Muhlenberg in his Biographical notice,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COVNTIES. 221

'•'der gefaehrliche Krieg in diesem Theil der Weltzwischen den
Franzosen und England ausbrach, und unsere benachbarte
Wilde Nationen meist bundbrichen worden, den Feinden zufiel-
en, und unsere Grenzen verwuesteten, gerieth Conrad Weiser
in neue Versuchungen. Die Landes Obrigkeit verordnete
ilm zura Obrist-Leutnant. Die Aemter sind hier bisweilcn nur
fuer die Personen, und die Personen nicht fuer die Aemter ges-
chaffen.

Und weil man seiner nun besonders in diesen Umstaenden
benoethigt war, und ihm noch viel mehr muehe und Last auf
legen wollte, so sollte das Salariam einst Obrist-Leutnants alles
ersetzen u. s. f. Diese Bedienung,, charge, oder Last, wie man
es nennen, mag, that ihm und seinen Kindern mehr Schaden an
Seel und Lieb, als einigcs zuvor. Er war schon alt an Jahren,
Schwach an Leibeskraeften, der haeuslichen Pflege gewohnt,
muste viel abwesend von Hause seyn und audi oft mit den
Vornehmen in der Stadt und Europaeischen Kriegshelden wegen
der Indianer Sachen conferriren.

Der Allergnaedigste und Erbarmungsvolle Mittler und Men-
schen— Freund, der nicht Lust hat an des Menschen-Verder-
ben, erhielte sein natuerliches Leben bis fast zum Ende des
wunderlichen Kriegs, und verlich ihm noch eine besondere
Gnadenfrist, so dass er Zeit hatte sich zu recalligiren ; im
Blute des Lammes die Befleckung des Geistes abzuthun, seine
Kleider helle zumachen, seine Seeligkeit mit Furcht und Zit-
tern zu schaffen, und ein gnaediges Endezu erwarten. Eskos-
tet gewiss Viel ein Christ zu sein, und zu b]eil)en. — Hal.
JYach., p. 974.

He closed his eventful Hfe July 13, 1760. On Saturday, the
12th, he went from his residence in Reading, in the enjoyment
of his wonted health, to his country seat, near the present site
of Wommelsdorf. He was suddenly seized by a violent colica
pitiutosa, which terminated his life on Sunday about noon. His
remains were interred in the family burying ground, on the 15th,
on which occasion the Rev. Kurtz preached a very impressive,
discourse from these words : "And thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. Sen. 15: 15."
Compared with Ps. 84: 11, 12 ; for the Lord God is the sun
and shield : the Lord will give grace and glory : no good thing
Vn'ill he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of
hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

20*

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

He left seven children (having been the father of fifteen chil-
dren, eight of whom had died,) and a widow, to lament his
departure. The spot, exposed as it is, where he lies, is about
half a mile east of Wommelsdorf, south of the turnpike. A
rough hewn sand-stone, singly and alone, stands there with the
following (almost obliterated) inscription:

Dieses ist die

Ruhe Staette des

weyl ehren geachteten M. Conrad Weiser

derselbige ist gebohren 1696 den 2 November

in Astaet im Amt Herrenberg im

Wittenberger Lande, und gestorben

1760 den 13 Julius, ist

alt worden 63 jahr ,.,

8 Monat und 13 Tage.

Tradition has it, that from a high regard for his character,
the Indians, for many years after his death, were in the habit
of making visits of affectionate remembrance to his grave. Re-
spect paid, which puts to shame the respect of some kindred.

The writer visited the grave of Weiser, February 21, 1844;
and was pained to see no inclosure or fence around the grave
of so great and good a man. Will not his wealthy descendants
think of this? Remember the respect paid him by the Indians.
Verbum sat.

HEREFORD TOWNSHIP.

Hereford township was settled at a comparatively early pe-
riod. It, Uke many other parts of Pennsylvania, was sought
as a place of refuge for the oppressed. Many of the present
inhabitants are descendants of those who came hither to seek a
home free from oppression.

In this and adjacent townships of Berks and Bucks, the
Schwenkfelders settled at a comparatively early period. As a
Christian, they are named after Casper Schwenkfeld von Ossing,
Selisian knight, and counsellor to the duke of Lignitz. He
v/as bom (seven years after Luther) in Loneer Selisia, in 1490,
in the principality of Lignitz. As a reformer, he, like others,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 223

had his adherents. For a particular account of Schwenkfeld,
a work lately prepared for press by the writer, and published
by James Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia, 1744. The work is
entitled He Pa s a Ekklesia, &c.

The Schwenkfelders were sorely persecuted in Europe, from
time to time. In 1719, the Jesuits thought the conversion of
them an object worthy of attention ; accordingly they sent mis-
sionaries to Silesia, who preached to them the faith of the em-
peror. The missionaries produced imperial edicts, that all
parents should attend their public worship, and bring their chil-
dren to be instructed in the Catholic faith, under severe pen-
alties.

The Schwenkfelders sent deputies to Vienna, to solicit for
toleration and indulgence; and though the emperor apparently
received them with kindness and condescension, yet the Jesuits
had the dexterous address to procure another imperial edict,
ordering that such parents- as would not bring every one of
their children to the missionaaries for instruction, should at last
be chained to the wheel-barrow, and jiut to hard labor on the
public works, and their children should, by force, be brought to
the missionaries.

Upon this, families fled in the night, into Lusatia, and other
parts of Saxony, in 1725; sought shelter under the protection
of the Senate Gorlitz, and also of Count Zinzendorf — leaving
behind them their effects, real and personal, (the road being
beset, in day time, to stop all emigrants.) They dwelt unmo-
lested, in their late sought shelter, about eight yeais; when
this protection being withdrawn, they resolved to seek a per-
manent establishment in Pennsylvania. A number of them in
1734, emigrated to Altona, a considerable city of Denmark and
Holland, thence to Pennsylvania.

In April, 1734, they left for Altona, where they arrived
May 17 ; thence sailed for America, and after a tedious voyage,
arrived at Philadelphia on the 22d September, 1734; and on
the 5th October, of the same year, ethers of them arrived.
They settled principally in Montgomery, Bucks, Lehigh and
Berks, where their grand-children reside at present. Of those
•of them who first settled in Hereford township, were the Rev.
Christopher Schultz, sen., George Schultz, Melchior Schultz,
Melchior Wiegner, David Mester, Gregorius Mester, Baltzer
Yeasrle.

324 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

The township was pretty well settled, as early as 1745.

The following were the taxables in 1758:

Melchir Wagoner, George Acker, Andrew AltendorfF, Deo-
bald Beck, Abraham Bechtel, Abraham Bauer, Michael Bauer,
Gerhardt Bechtel, John Bechtel, Peter Bishop, Conrad Been,
Martin Kreter, Martin Ivlever, George Dee, John Erly, Joseph
Ehrenman, John Ebener, Nicholas I'unck, Jacob Fisher, Peter
Fetterhof, Ludwig Gauer, ITeronimus Greber, Christian Geh-.
man, Leonard Gressemer, Jacob Gressemer, George Herbst,
Daniel Haw, John Gregory, Pvichard Gregory, Fiancis Lusse-
har, John Kunius, Benedict Leeser, Frantz Lussehar, Philip
Lohr, George Lohr, Casper Leydecker, Moritz Lorentz, Jacob.
Lebenguth, Casper Meyer, Christian Meister, David Meister,
Henry Miller, Andrew Mauer, George Mastdel, Jacob Miller,
Frederick Nestor, William Richard, Nicholas Nickour, George
Rohrbach, Martin Rehr, John Schaurner, Nicholas Seitle, Fre-.
derick Seller, Michael Schalle, A. Steinraann, Melchior Schultz,
Martin Stertzman, Benedict Strohm, Christopher Schultz, Wolf
Wolfgang, Jacob Stauffer, John Stapp, Andrew Schwartz, Pe-
ter Schner, Jacob Fress, Jacob Fren, Jacob Frollinger, William
Taunss, Melchior Weigner, Jost Wyant, Jacob Wetzel, Val-
entine Weybel, WilKam Mayberry, Roland Young, Bernhard
Young,. Baltzer Zimmermann, George Beyer, Henry Gable,
Abraham Stauffer, Peter Wolf, Abraham Gehman, Henry
Bortz, Philip Leydecker, Philip Neiss, Christian Kretter, Geo.
Weigner, Philip Raush, Theodorus Schneider, John Schleiger.
Hereford township has been reduced to its present limits and
boundaries, by erecting Washington township, in 1839 — Ser
Washington toicnship — it is bounded on the north-east by Le-
high county, and the south-east by Montgomery county; on the
south-west by Washington and District ; on the north-west by
District and Long-swamp; length about four miles, mean
breadth, not exceeding three miles; contains about twelve thou-
sand acres of land ; generally hilly ; soil, gravel, naturally not
fertile; but in some places rendered very productive. Shoub's
mountam, near Lehigh county, is a striking feature of land-,
scape.

This township, by the principal and west branches of Per-.
kiomin creek, which afford water power sufficient. There were
in 1840, three forges, one fulling mill, one woollen factory, five
grist mills, six saw mills, two oil mills, and several tanneries m
this township.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 22-3

There are several churches in this township; one Roman
CathoHc, one belonging to the Schwenkfelders, and two com-
mon to the German Reformed and Lutherans.

Population in 1830, 1,716; 1840, 1,244; horses 316;
horned cattle 883; sheep 506; swine 839; bushels of wheat
raised 8,533; rye 11,835; corn 1,268; oats 11,338; huck-
wheat 2,992; potatoes 6,402; tons of hay 1,130; pounds of
wool 1,027; flax 1,021. Whole amount of valuation, on all
articles made taxable for county purposes for 1844, $3411,301 ;
amount of county tax $682 60 ; state tax $365 44. '

LONG-SWAMP TOWNSHIP,

Long-swnmp township, was like all the townships contiguous
to it — settled primitively by Germans. During the years, from
1754 to 1763, it was the occasional scene of Indian barbari-
ties. The following named persons resided here in 1756, and
many of them nearly thirty years earlier:

Bernhard Klein, Jacob Long, Valentine Dillingcr, .Jacob
Harne, John Hess, Paul Hamrig, Michael Coller, Philip Finck,
Adam Dietrich, Simon Moser, Adam Len, Rinchard Abends-
cheim, Peter Bechtel, Jacob Stall, Bartel Kielfer, Peter Bucher,
Baltas Klever, Martin Kerger, Philip Fenstermacher, Andrew
Scherle, Mathias Fenstermacher, Adam Gery, Jacob Danner,
Nicholas Schwartz, Daniel Schwartz, Christian Steinberger,
Deobald Grub, Nicholas Mertz, Nicholas Schreter, Peter Mertz,
Ludwig Haspelhorn, Henry Bollinger, Jacob Weimer, Adolph
Mayer, Simon Loydecker, Augustin Speckler, Nicholas Gress,
Christian Abendscheira, Bernhard Schweizig, Deobald Carl,
John Diehl, Michael Smith, Baltas Trit, Adolph Arnold, Barn-
hard Fegely, Christian Trevelstet, Michael Nothstein, Jacob
Schenck, Andrew Same, Mathias Eigner, Peter Redler, Fried-
rich Popenmayer, Joseph Bery, Valentine Fleck, Enos Nael,
John Flammer, Henry Shefer, Michael Bievcr, Samuel Burger,
Jacob Long, Philip Burger, Philip Dall, John Hilpert, Jacob
Fenstermacher, Peter Klein, Michael Nietrauer, Frederick
Helwig, Christian Hofman, Nicholas Helm, Lewis Nits, Peter
Aller, Joseph Richard, Christian Reisinger, Martin Boger,

«l»

^36 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

George Kumph, John Kaufman, Philip Hene, Deobald Kleiii^.
Adam Helwig, Mathias Eigner.

Long-swamp is bounded on the north-east by Lehigh county
south-east by Hereford township, south by District and Rock-
land, north-w^est by Maxatawny; mean length about five miles,
and breadth four and a half; containing nearly fourteen thousand
acres of land, somewhat hilly, especially the north-eastern part,
south of Little Lehigh river; the soil is partly limestone, and
considerable gravel; but portions of it well cultivated.

The tov>^nslup is principally watered by the tributaries- or
sources of the Little Lehigh river ; and by a creek which rises
near the line of Rockland towmship, and running about four
miles and a half, it disappears near the Lehigh county line, and
is lost in a limestone fissure.

Mertztown, near the north-eastern corner of the township,
is a small village, containing between twelve and fifteen dwel-
lings, a tavern and store, a German Reformed and Lutheran
church. Trexler's furnace is near the District township line. —
There are several fine mills — six or seven in this township.

Population in 1810, 998: 1820, 1,371; 1830,1,702; 1840,
2,112. Horses 499; horned cattle 805; sheep 652; swine
1,050; bushels of wheat raised 8,506; rye 13,284; corn 10,050;
oats 11,130; buckwheat 2,318; potatoes 4,965; tons of hay
671 ; pounds of wool 871 ; llax 876. Whole amount of valua-
tion on all articles made taxable for county purposes in 1844,
$485,671; amount of county tax 8661,73; gross amount of
State tax, 8661 73.

MAIDEN CREEK TOWNSHIP.

Maiden creek township has its name from a considerable
stream of that name, which crosses the township diagonally
from its extreme northern point to its remotest southern bounds.
The Indian name of the stream was Onteelaunee. Whence the
name Maiden creek? In answer to the question, the following
is plausible: "It is told, as a tradition, that the river called
Schuylkill, by the Dutch, bore the Indian name Manajungy
meaning the Mother, and the Onteelaunee, the Litth Daughter
of the Great Mother; that is Maiden creek.'*

HISTOliY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNT Its. 227

The primitive settlers were Friends or Quakers ; upwards of
seventy families resided in this township in 1738. Owing to a
large emigration westward, their number has been decreased.
The taxables in 1741, were seventy-five; at that period the
township embraced a portion of what was afterwartl included
in Ruscommanor. In 1757 the following taxables were re-
turned by the assessor to the county commissioners:

Francis Parvin, Esq., Francis Parvin, jr., Myrick »Starr, Jo-
seph Burger, John Koch, Adam Mingle, Edward Mourn, Tho-
mas Pearson, Mordecai Lee, James Jordan, Moses Starr,
Thomas Lewis, Barnhard Unborn, William Penrose, Joseph
Penrose, Richard Penrose, Mary Wily, George Fegler, Felty
Keime, John Goonbord, Michael Arnold, John Reeser, John
Fraufelter, Frederich Blat, John Hutton, James Hutton, Ste-
phen Barnhard, Ulrich Hoy, Michael Doonkcl, Lewhard May-
er, Christian Zugg, Jacob Lightfootj Thomas Kerby, Peter
llodarmel, Rudolph High, Paul Rodarmel, Elias Reed, Moses
Starr, jr., James Kees, Thomas Parvin, Frederick Hess, Philip
Wax, Urban Shuttle, John High, John Finsher, Rudolph High;
Benjamin Parvin, Owen Hughes, Jonathan Hughes, John Starr,
Peter Nanhorn, Thomas Reed, Casper Strahl, John Barto,
Stanly Xirby, Joseph Lightfoot, George Plot, Jeremal Starr,
John Nanhorn.

This township is bounded on the north by Windsor town-
ship ; on the north-east by Richmond ; on the south by Rus-
commanor and Alsaci; on the west by the vSchuylkill river^
dividing from Berne and Centre; mean length four miles and
three-fourths; breadth four miles; containing thirteen thousand
acres of first-rate level, limestone, and gravel land ; many por-
tions of which is highly productive. This township has a good
supply of water power from the Schuylkill, and its great trib-
utary. Maiden creek, on which are five or six mills.

There is a Friends meeting house, near the centre, on the
•east side of Maiden creek, and a German Reformed and Luth-
eran church, called Garndnt's church, near the northern boun-
dary, about nine miles from Reading. The turnpike road to
Sunbury passes, for the distance of four or five miles, parallel
with the Schuylkill, through the township, and passes Maiden
creek, over a wooden-covered bridge, of one arch.

Leesport, laid out by Drs. l)arry and Young, in 1840, nine
miles from Reading, is on the turnpike. It contains some twenty

228 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTllSSi

or twenty-five dwellings, a steam mill, and the usual handicralt
of country villages. Efforts Avere making in 1844, to erect an
Academy.

Population in 1810, 918; 1820, 1,192; 1830, 1,350; 1840
the number of inhabitants were 875 white males, 850 females,
14 male colored persons, 8 females ; in all 1,747. Horses 131 ;
cows 425; sheep 804; swine 679; bushels of wheat raised
14,743; rye 8,527; corn 10,200; oats 11,184; buckwheat
170; potatoes 11,130; tons of hay 492; pounds of wool 947.
Whole amount of valuation on all articles taxable for county
purposes $765,343; whole amount of county tax $1,530 68;
gross amount of State tax $945 12.

MAXATAWNY TOWNSHIP^

Maxatawny township — no doubt the inviting aspect of the
country, and other considerations, induced many of the Germans,
to settle here shortly after Penn's new purchase from the In-
dians, in 1732. A few years after the erection of Berks, the
number of taxables was rising of one hundred, among whom
were the following in 1757, principally Germans :|

Abraham Barling, Andrew Sassamanhausen, Adam Roads,
Abraham Zimmerman, Anthony Fisher, Andrew Heck, Chris-
tian Ruthj Charles Kern, Casper Smeck, Conrad Mane-
smith, Conrad Boader Christian Wenner Durst Kershner,
Daniel Levan, Deobald Wink, Deo bald Kemp, David Hutten-
stein, Frederick De La Plank, (Delaplank,) Jacob Meyer,
Daniel Ott, George Scheffer, George Sassamanhausen, George
Roads, Geo. Baeder, Henry Wetstone, Henry Christ, Henry
Luckenbill, Henry Hock, Joseph Liegfried, John Hergarather,
John Hartman, John Beaver, John Bost, Jacob Levan, Julius
Kerber, John Hill, Jacob Shoradin, John De Long, Jacob
Roads, Michael Att, Michael Christman, Nicholas Harmany,
Nuhiles Roads, Nicholas Musfel, Nicholas Queery, Peter
Brann, Peter Shererj Philip Granel, Peter De Long, Paul Sho-
radin, Sebastian Levan, Sebastian Zimmerman, Thomas Roads,
Dietrich Biever, William Groose, Anthony Bensinger, Andrew
Balich, Anthony Altman, Abraham Ely, Casper Killion, Chris-
tian Shhnker, Christian Baum, Daniel Dosser, David Musgen-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 229

ing, Daniel Young, Frantz Jacob Keill, George Esser, George
Stibe, George Markle, Geo. Wild, Henry Lutz, Jacob Shaffer,
Jacob Eaner, Jacob Fisler, John Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob
Wild brant, John Smaus, John PoU, Gustavus Urban, John
Baner, John Hood, Leonard Saul, Michael Baner, Martin Sea,
Martin Wanner, Michael Henninger, Michael Knebcl, Michael
Andreas, Nicholas Schumacher, Philip Hahn, (Haun,) Peter
Gross, Peter Sturtz, William Gross, Wm. Tj-autman, Jacob
Kumerer, George Breinnig, Conrad Henninger, Valentine Stern-
er, Philip Ruth, William Edleman, Adam Schebele, Wm. Wann,
Frederick Hausman, Benedict Neidlinger, Peter Minich, Mi-
chael Hide, Conrad Mesker, Jacob Stimmel, George Steinbach,
George Selb, George Ifamberd, Jacob Grauel, George Etzler,
Jacob De Long, Nicholas Boader, Joseph Gross, Andrew Heck,
Abraham Dunkelberger.

Maxatawny township is bounded on the north-east by Le-
high county, south-east by Long-swamp township and Rock-
land, south and south-west by Rockland and Richmond; and
north-west by Greenwich township.

Greatest length, five miles and a half; breadth, four miles
and a half; forming an oblong, and containing nearly fifteen
thousand acres of land, generally level, limestone and gravel
soil, and very productive too; a great portion of it being in what
is called Maxatawny valley, which is pronounced by competent
judges, "a fertile vale of deep-soiled red shale and hmestone."
Brown argillaceous iron ore occurs near Kutztown.

This township is remarkable for being intersected by a score
of roads in various directifdns. It is not so well supplied with
water power as some townships in the county are. The prin-
cipal stream, affording water power, is Sacony creek, a branch
of Maiden creek, passing through the south-western part of the
township, turning several mills as it seeks a northern direction
towards Maiden creek; and Mill creek, a branch of Sacony,
runs south-west for the distance of three miles in the township;
there are several mills on this stream. There are several
churches in this township, one in the southern part, and another
at Kutztown, both common to the German Reformed and Lu-
therans.

Kutztown, on the west side of Sacony creek, in this town-
ship, is a considerable f>ost village — a borough — having been in-
corporated by an act of Assembly, March 1st, ISlo — situated
20

230 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

in Maxatawny valley, on the Allentown and Readine road^
being midway between both, and 17 miles from either. It con-
tains about one hundred and twenty-five dwellings, with a
population rising of seven hundred; several stores, taverns, an
academy of advanced standing, and a church, as mentioned
above.

A certain gentleman, who spent a few days at this place,
two years ago, in writing to a friend, speaking of Kutztown
and vicinity, says: — "The peasantry are honest, hard-working
Germans. Here they lock no doors. The congregations of
diiferent sectarian faiths, worship in the same church on alter-
nate Sundays. The church is filled with attentive people, and
a very great proportion are communicants. They have an ex-
cellent organ, made in this county. Preaching in German. It
pains me to observe in every country church yard, the naked
marble slabs, unsheltered by a single tree, and unadorned by a
single shrub or flower."

The following Revolutionary pensioners lived in this town-
ship in 1840: Henry Grim, aged 75; Frederick Bower, 83;
Jacob Wink, 82; Philip Noyes, 84; Christian Smick, 76.

Population in 1810, 1,530; 1850, 1,845; 1830, 2,108; 1840,
2,564; of these there were 1,330 males, and 1,264 females. —
Horses 52s ; horned cattle 1,379; sheep 1,302; swine 1,872:
bushels of wheat raised 28,556 ; rye 29,235 ; corn 17,946 ; oat5
18,810; buckwheat 13,582; potatoes 12,190; tons of hay
1,732; pounds of wool 1,434; flax 2,439. Whole amount of
valuation on all articles made taxable for county purposes in
1844, $844,700; whole amount of county tax, $1'686 40;
gross amount of county tax, $1,08448.

OLEY TOWNSHIP.

Oley township was settled at an early period. On examining
the Land Office, we find deeds for land in Oley, dated 1682,
some time before William Penn, the Proprietary, left England
for the Province. The farm now owned by Gideon Hoch, in
the north-eastern part of this township, is part of a tract sold
by William Penn to John Snashold, then both of England. Th«
deed calls for five hundred acres — dated May 6, 1682,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANOK COUNTIES. 231

The farm owned by Daniel Bartolet, was conveyed by Wil-
Uam Penn to Thomas Bond, the I7th and ISth of June, 1682.
De Tirck, the maternal great grand-father of Bartolet, pur-
chased it in 1721.

The first settlers, it would appear, were French Huguenots,
and some of their descendants, who located in Oley, between
1704 and 1710. [See Chapter V.] The De Turks, who set-
tled here in 1710 or 'll, were from Esopus, New York, where
a number of Huguenots had settled, between 1650 and 1660.
They had remained but a short time at Esopus. They came
to America in the early part of the reign of Queen Ann, who
ascended the throne in 1703; settled at Esopus, thence came to
Oley, 1710:or '11.

Several flimilies of Friends, or Quakers, settled in this town^
ship as early as 1713 or 1710. George Boone, a native of
England took out a warrant, in 1718, for four hundred acres of
land in Oley, then in Philadelphia county. And it is believed,
that Arthur Lee, also a native of England, had previously
settled to Boone's arrival. Lee's nearest neighbors were In-
dians— who delighted to have him in their country, knowing
the peaceable principles of the Friends; they never, molested
him. Nay, rather ever manifested a strong disposition to de-
fend him. Of this we have a striking instance, in an occur-
rence, which has been handed down by tradition in the Lee
family. The neighboring Indians having received intelligence
that a hostile tribe was about making incursions into the set-
tlements of the whites, came, by night, painted and equipped,
to do the stern duty of war, to Arthur Lee's dwelling, and
surrounded it. This formidable atfitude of the Indians, alarmed
some of the inmates, especially the younger of them, who, to
escape for life, made efforts to get out the house, but were
prevented by the Indians, assuring them that their object in
coming was to protect them against the assaults of hostile In-
dians, and not to injure them. The Indians then inquired into
the truth of report touching the hostile Indians; and being as-
sured by Mr. Lee, that it was unfounded, they then, to mani-
fest their joy at such news, fired their guns in the air, with a
shoult of exultation — returned to their homes, instead of pro-
ceeding against their red brethren, as had been their intention.

After the Friends, and some Huguenots had settled here, the
way was open for others of their persecuted brethren in France,

232 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

In 1726 Jean Bartolet, a native of Chasteadeux, and family,
embarked for America, and on his arrival, settled in Oley.

Before leaving the country, whither he had fled from France,
like an honest and religious man, he procured, as a good citi-
zen, a certificate, showing that he did not leave his country
without the consent of the proper authorities, as appears from
the following original paper:

Wir zu Endte Unterschriebenen Oberamtman der Hochfuer-
stlichen Pfaltzgraefflichen Gemeinschaft Guttenberg, attestie-
ren hiermit und in Kraft dieses Briefls dass Yorweiser dieses
der wohlehrbare und bescheydene Jean Bertolet gebuertig von
Chasteaudeux in der Schweitz Berner Gebiets, nebst seiner
Hausfrau, sich seit vierzehn Jahren als bestandere des alhier
gelegenen und hochloeblicher, Stiflts-Seltz gehoerigen Hoffs,
fromm, ehrbar, aufrichtig, und redlich verhalten, und deiges-
talten, wie es einem ehrlichen Manne geziemen will loeblicht
aufFgefuehret, dass wir demselbcn, so w^ohl als dessen Haus-
frau, andersters nichts dann alles Liebes und Gutes nachzusa-
gen wissen; weylen nun diese beide Eheleute, nebst bey sich
habenden fuenf Kindern um ihres verhoffenden bessern Nutzen
imd Gelegenheit willen sich in das Neue Land oder Fennsylva-
nien zu begeben und sich alda selbsten Ilaeuslich nieder zu
lassen, gaentzlich entschlossen nnd gesinnt seynd. Als wir
Maenniglicher Standes gebuehr respective gehorsam audi dien-
ste und freundlichen ersuchet und gebetten bemelte Jean Bar-
tolet nebst dessen-Hausfrau Susanna und fuenf Kindern nicht
allein aller Orthen frey, sicher und ohngehindert passieren audi
beyneben wegen ihres ruehmlichen Wohlverhalten alien Ger-
ichten willen und Assistentz wiederfahren zu lassen, Einsolches
seynd wir dergleichen Occasionem freundlichst zu senproeiren
so erbiethig als bereit: Diessen zu wahren Urkundt habcn war
nebst eigenhaendigen subscription unser gewoehnliches Paet-
schafFt hieran gehenckt. So gegeben ira zwanzigsten Monaths
Tag Apriles als man zaehlt ein Tausand sieben hundert zwan-
zig und sechs.

J. G. WiMPHFEN,
NiCHOLATS ScHOENLEUCII.

Anwald

Hans Ehrhart, Sect des Gerlchts.^

V Oley township is remarkable in the annals of Pennsylvania,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 23U

as place for religious excitement, at an early period. A sin^
gular sect was started in Oley, headed by one Mathias Bow-
man. Before his arrival in this country, there were some who
professed to be impeccable; or having attained to a state of
sinlessness ; they were, in their own estimation, perfect. They
styled themselves "Mew Born."

Mathias Bowman, who assumed the right as leader, was a
native of Larashelm, Palatinate; born in 1701; and no doubt,
having heard of the shepherdless few, embarked for America
in 171 9. It is reported, he was an honest and sincere man —
not very solicitous to accumulate wealth; but, this was not said
of Peter Kilwain,* or Kuehlenwein, Yotter, and others of his
followers — some of 'these loved the good things of the world
inordinately-!

Bowman's followers, as said, professed sinless perfection —
boasted that thoy were sent of God to conform others. Their
disputations were frequently heard in the market places of
Philadelphia. On one occasion, Bowman, as empirics are wont
to do, to show that his doctrine from God, proposed to walk
across the Delaware river.

Many of them were, as it ever was, and is to this day — Mil-
lerites not excluded — enthusiasts, brainless fanatics, contentions,
perfect babblers, wandering through the country, displaying a
blind zeal for their doctrines — the whims and caprices of men, —
by angrily controverting with all who differed from them in
matters of faith. None, no matter how retired seemed to es-.
cape the J^ew-Born leader; even Conrad Beissel, the founder
of the Siehen Taegcr, was occassionally annoyed in his recluse
situation, by Bowman and his disciples.

From the following letter, written before Bowman's arrival
in Oley, by one of his subsequent adherents, a female, in answer
to a letter from a friend in Germany, will afford the reader
some idea of the sentiments held by the New-Born.. The
original, of which a copy is given, is still preserved. It is
dated :

Oley Townthip.

May 14, 1718.

"Ich gruesse euch alle hertzlich, Brueder, Schwestern,
Schwaeger und Geschwistern, als, Freunde und Bekannte. Wir

* Col, Rec. iii. 349.
+ Chron. Ephra.

20*

234 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

haben euren Brief bekommen iind daraiis ersehen wir was ihr
wissen wolt; aber das ist mir nun zu schlecht zu beantworten.

" Ich will euch mein Weg kund thun wie es init mir stebt. —
Ich bin nun in einem bessern Stand also ich, da ich draussen war ;
hier hat mich der liebe Gott Suenden frei gcmacht, dass ich
nicht mehr suendigen kann, und davor lobe ich ihn jetzt und in
Ewigkcit. Ich babe mich zu Gott gchalten, so ist er zu mir
kommen und hat Wohnung bei mir gemacht.

"So ihr Lust habt mit mir die Neuegeburt zu geniessen, der
muss seinen Sinn und Gedanken von alien Dingen, von der
Welt abziehen, und nichts mehr suchen als Gott alkin, und an-
halten mit Beten und Seufzen, Tag und Nacht, dass ihn Gott
moege neugebaehren, und so er es getreu raeinet so wird der
Mensch Wunder erfahren.

" Menschen ruehmen sich Christen, und wissen nicht v/assdie
Neugeburt ist. Die Neugeburt ist der neue Stein dass Niemand
weiss war er ist, als der ihn bekomt.

"In Pennsj'lvanien zu reisen ist nicht der werth so wir in
Suenden seyn. Wer %yeis es ob man hahinkoemmt! Diemeisten
Menschen muessen Krankheiten ausstehen, und viele gar den
Tod, und hier in Pennsylvanien ist sowohl Unruhals draussen;
ist es nicht vom Krieg, so ist etv/as nnders das uns nicht gefa-
ellet,

"Die Menschen vrerden in der Welt keine Ruhe finden, sie
moegen hingehen wo sie woUen. Bey Gott ist Ruhe und s( nst
an keinem andern Ort. Gedenket ihr nach einem andern so
seyd ihr unruhig, und also auch hier in America; wann einer
aber Suendenfrey ist so mag einer reisen oder dorten bleiben,
dan hat er den besten Schatz bey sich, und ist zufrieden wo er
ist und had Vergnuegcn an seinera Schatz in der ganzen Welt.

"Lehrer und Zuhoerer sind alle keine Christen den sie sind
Suender, und Christus ist kommen die Suenden wegzunehmen
Wer dan nicht Suendenfrey ist dem ist Christus noch nicht in
die Welt gekommen. Alle Lehrer in der ganzen Welt die
nicht Suendenfrey sind gemacht, und nicht mehr suendigen ko-
ennen, das sind falsche Lehrer, sie moegen sein frcmm oder boes.
Es gilt nichts ira Reiche Christi, als Christus selber. Wer den
nicht hat der ist nicht seyn, und wo er ist, da ist man Suen-
denfrey.

"Ich gruesse euch nocheinmal alle herzlich. Gedenket was

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIE>!. 235

ich euch habe kund werden lassen, und nehmet es zu herzen,
es soil euch besser seyn als alle Dioge in der Welt.

Maria de Ti|jrk,
Gebohrne De Ileroken.

In connection with the above letter, and from an extract ot
the Hallischc J\'achrichten, the views of the JVeic-Born may be
learnt. The Rev. Muhlenberg says, in p. 227, Hal. Nach.
"Junii 10,1747, reisete ich von Neuhanover ab; kehrte 8
raeile von dem Ort bey einera alten so genannttn Nengebornen
ein, welcher vor zwanzig und etlichen Jahrcn eine Wit we ge-
heurathet, und mit derselben 5 Kinder gezeugct, welche mir
die Mutter in den ersten Jahren, erwachsen, zum Unterricht
und heiliger Taufe, wieder des Vaters Willen, uebergab, und
deswegen von ihrem Manne vieles leiden musste.

Der alte mann giebt vor dass er in der Pfalz neugeboren sey.
Die Kennzeichcn solcher Geburt erstreckcn sich aber nicht wel-
ter -nach seiner oft wiederholtcn Aussage, als dass er sich von
der Reformirten Kirche und den Sacramentcn separi iert, und
dem damals zur Regierung gekommenen Churfuersten nicht
den Eid der Treue ablegen wollte, worueber er nebst andern
vor das Consistorium gefordert, auch rait Gefiiengniss belegt,
und seiner Meinung nach, um C'hristi und der Wahrheit willen
verfolgret worden. Er nimt wedcr vernuenftio-en Beweis, noch
die hoehere Oifenbarung nach alien Theilcn und ihren ganzen
Inhalt an; laesset sich auch niclit belehren, wel er vcm Schwa-
chem Verstand, halstarii'j-em Ei^enwillen und stuermcnden Af-
fecten ist, und die Pennsylvanische Freiheit zum Schaden
missbraucht.

Nachdem er bier ins Land gekommen, hat er sich mit einifjen
vereiniget, welche Secte den Namen der Jfeugehornen tragen.
Dieselbe giebt eine Neugeburt vor, welche sie durch unmittel-
bare Einsprache, Erscheinungen vora Hiramel, Traeume und
dergleichen, ploetzlich erlangen. Wenn sic die Neugeburt auf
solche Weise bekommen; so sind sie ihrer Einbildung nach,
Gott und Christus selber, koennen nicht mehr suendigen noch
irren. Daher gebrauchen sie von dem heiligen Wort Gottes
nicht mehr, als eben dasjenige, was ihren falschen Seckten zu
favorisiren scheint. Die heiligen Sacramenten sind ihnen lap-
cherlich, und ihre Ausdruecke von denselben hoechst aegerlich.

Oley township is also further remarkable for several Mora-

236 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

vian Synods held in it, shortly after the arrival of Count Zin-
zendorf.

Towards the close of the year 1741, Count Zinzcndorf came
to Pennsylvania; shoitly after his arrival he sent Gotlieb Buett-
ner to visit a Moravian minister, the Rev. Ranch, at Sheko-
ineko,* to invite him to attend a synod about to be held under
the auspices of the Count, whose object in coming to America
was to enquire into the general condition of the Christians, ina-
part instruction, and give directions to his brethren. Buett-
ner, on his arrival at Shekomeko, found some fruits of Rauch's
labors, which was cause of considerable joy to him; here he
tarried some eight or ten days among the sons of the forest, and
preached to them, January 14, 1742; he preached to thirty-
two Indians, from these words : " He hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son."

The time having arrived to repair to the Synodical meeting,
they made ready to depart ; the Indians hearing that their
spiritual instructors were about leaving, three of them, Shabash,
Seim. and Kiop, obtained permission to accompany them. —
They left Shckomeko, January 22d, on foot, but being in com-
])any with Indians, were refused admittance at some inns, on
their way to Philadelphia, via which they went to Oley, where
they arrived the 9th of February, and met Count Zinzendorf,
"and many laborers and ministers of various denominations as-
sembled together." The appearance of the three Indian visiters,
whose hearts were filled with the graceof.Iesus Christ and the
love of God, made a deep impression upon all present. Soon
after their arrival, a party of Delav;are Indians came to see
them, to wd)om they immediately spoke of Jesus Christ, their
God and Saviour. They likewise declared to their brethren
how much they wished for baptism. Having received the gos-
pel with a believing heart, been faithfully instructed in the doc-r
trine of salvation, and earnestly desiring to obtain mercy and
pardon in the blood of Jesus ; the synod first declared them
candidates for baptism, and then resolved, without delay, to ad-
minister holy baptism to thera in the presence of this whole
assembly."

The 11th of February was the day appointed for this ?o-
lem act — it was a day, says Loskiel, never to be forgotten In

* On the borders of Connecticut.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBAON COUNTIES. 237

the annals of missions. The awful presence of Him, who has
promised to meet with his own, was powerfully felt — the great-
est solemnity prevailed, and the spirit of God was sensibly felt,
during the morning exercises, which consisted of prayer, and
praising the Father of all in spiritual song. Here, as in the
days of yore, when the sons of God met, Satan was also pre-
sent, especially in his devoted servants ; for while the humble
believers were engaged in preparatory exercises to baptize the
contrite Indians, " some ill-disposed people coming from the
neighborhood, raised such disturbance, that the whole company
was upon the point of dispersing, and postponing this tran-
saction for the present. However, peace and quietness being
happily restored, there was a solemn meeting in the afternoon,
in which Rauch and Buettner were ordained deacons by the
two bishops, David Isitchman and Couut Zinzendorf. After
this act, preparations were made in a barn belonging to De
Tirk — (or Van Dirk, as it is wa-itten in German.) There was
no church in Oley at this time. In this barn the above named
Indians were baptised by Christian Henry Ranch, the mission-
ary from Shekomeko. " The whole assembly being met, the
three catechumens were placed in the amidst, and with fervent
prayer and supplication, devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ, as
his eternal property ; upon which Rauch, with great emotion of
heart, baptised these three hrstlings of the North American
Indians into the death of Jesus, in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, calling Shabash, jVoi-aham ;
Seim, Isaac; Kiop, Jacob."^''

The same writer continues, and says, "The powerful sensa-
tion of the grace of God, which prevailed during this sacred
transaction, filled all preseut with awe and joy, and the effect
produced in the baptised Indians, astonished every one. Their
hearts were filled with such rapture, that they could not keep
silence, but made known to all the white people who came into
their hut, what great favor had been bestowed upon them. —
They preached a whole night to a party of Delaware Indians,
who were in the neighborhood, and by the ]->rovidence of God
were just at that time led to return back to Oley. When one
ceased the other began, and their animated testimony of Jesus
filled their hearers with admiration. Soon after this, they set
out with Rauch, went first to Bethlehem, and having spent
* Loskiel's His. Miss., Part 2,'p. 21.

238 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

some days with their brethren to mutual edification, they pro-?
ceeded on their journey, full of spiritual life, in the company of
their beloved teacher. When they came home, they testified
to all their relations and friends, of the grace bestowed upon
them by God, and their words made an abiding impression in
the minds of the heathen,"

In 1757, the following were taxables in this township:
Conrad Rife, Samuel High, John Lisher, John De Turk,
Samuel Guklin, Anthony Hunter, John Lee, Jonathan Harpine,
W. Kelbach, John High, Abi'aham Levan, Lazarus Weidner,
Dietrich Weidner, Nicholas Lisher, .lacob Keim, WilJiamPott,
Peter Lobach, Jacob Yoder, John Yoder, sen., Gabriel Boyer,
Jacob Kaufman, John Yoder Yost, Casper Grismer, I'^icLo'as
Hunter, George Dollinger, Jacques De La Plank, (JarnesDela-
plank, Valentine Hufnagle, Benjamin Hufnagle, Elias Hufna-
gle, Peter Ereil, Peter Hcrple, Thomas Lee, Samuel Lee,
Abraham Pjartolet, Jacob Stover, Isaac Eardo, Abraham Peter,
John Hill, John Frederick, David Weiser, John Pott, Frederick
-i3ariolet, John Hunter, Benjamin Longaworthy, W. Richards,
Martin Slaugenhans, Valentine Young, George Schits, Michael
Knob, Jacob Schneider, Henry Sheiter, Peter Harpine, W.
Yonkman, Frederick Leinbach, John Leinbach, Conrad Fisher,
George VVindbigler, John Great, Adam Eoligh, John I\Iarke,
Melchior Ivloyer, John Holly, Simon Kepler, Nicholas Shoe-
maker, William Collins, Frederick Colhns, Henry Kerson, Mi-
chael Regleitor, Peter Catzenmoyer, Frederick Hill, Jacob
Stots, George Kalteisen, Adam Michel, Philip Hartzman,
Christian Sammet, Christopher Kentner, Christopher Gerhart,
Valentine Huff, Jacob Byder, William Byder, Francis Kirling,
Jonas W^eaver, George Wicker, Christopher Fur, John Zook,
Jeremiah Channel, George Brown, Jacob Karner, Jacob Omin-
settle, Michael Brush, Philip Hartman, John Dewalt, (Dewald)
Jacob Seary, Anthony Kempfer, Henry Neukirch, sen., Jacob
West, Stephan Repperts, Mordecai Ellis, Martin Schenckel,
Mordecai Elhs, Samuel Gulden, Daniel Gulden, George Mi-
chel, George Yaeger, Jacob Yoder, George Kerstner, John
Herger, Peter Knobb, John Knobb, Jacob Weisner, George
Sjnsinger, Joseph Lauch, Jacob Hassinger, Matthias Mosser,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 239

Peter Read, John High, Ludwick Marburger, George Kleim,
Henry Fonal.

This township is bounded north by Rockland and Pike ; east
by Earl; south by Amity and Exeter; and on the west by Al-
sace and Ruscommanor; mean length five miles; breadth four
and a half; contains thirteen thousand six hundred acres of land,
generally very level, and principally first rate limestone, —
some in a very high state of cultivation. The averao-e value
of land, from thirty to sixty-five dollars per acre; watered by
the sources of JNIanokisy and Manatawny creeks. It contains
a score of mills, one furnace, two forges, and three churches —
both splendid edifices — near Manatawny creek. The one be-
longs to the German Reformed, (some of w-hom are the descen-
dants of Huguenots) and the other belongs to the Lntherans;
and one in which the Evangehcal Association holds meetino-s.

Friedensburg, in this township, is a small village of some ten
or fifteen houses; some of them built of stone. It contains a
store and tavern.

Population in 1810,1,274; 1820, 1,410; 1830,1,469; 1840,
1,875 ; horses 458 ; horned cattle 1,479 ; sheep 865 ; swine
1,102; bushels of wheat raised 19,747; rye 13,648; corn
27,800; oats 34,252; buckwheat 1,366; potatoes 7,092; tons
of hay 1,783; pounds of wool 1,533; flax 1,675. Whole
amount of valuation on all articles taxable for coimty purposes
for 1844, $875,815; whole amount of county tax, 8l,75l 63 ;
gross amount of State tax, $1,283 59.

RICHMOND TO-WTvrSHIP.

Richmond township was organized shortly after the erection
of the county, lying partly within the same vale of Maxatawnv,
was also settled at an early period, and by the same class of
persons, honest and industrious Germans.

In 1768, the following taxables resided in this township:
Stophel Teischer, Abraham Keis^, Adolph Peter, Andrew
Millegle, Balthaser Rehm, Christian Denoher, Christian Schk-
gel, Christian Rodarmel, Christian Schick, Conrad Miller, Cas-

240 History of berks and Lebanon counties.

per Merkle, Chas. Hellen, David Oehly, Daniel Hocli, David
Kemp, Frederick Hill, George Sheffer, George Michael Wine-
man, George Merkle, George Old, George Folk, George Nutz,
Henry Kelchour, Henry Keisraer, Heniy Orthly, Henry Dil-
boren, Henry Jjorghardt, John Rodarmel, Jacob Treibelbiss,
John George Merkle, Joakin Sleisly, Jacob Shoemaker, John
Glass, Jonas Resler, Joseph Luler, Michael Reeber, Michael
Wilhelm, Michael Keneher, Melchior Fritz, Michael Kepler,
Melchior Braun, Nicholas Keiser, Peter Bull, Peter Spohn,
Peter DeJlborn, Peter Merkle,1Vter Greenwalt, Philip Sohns,
Philip Hedrick, Theobald Biber, Valentine liussman, Vincent
Lescher, Geo. Michael Derr, Henry Conrad, Kicholas Raush,
Frederick Brown, Christian Hoffman, John Andreas Reh, Geo.
Zerr, John Mering, John Adam Schelkop, Nicholas Mauckly,
Michael Dieber, George Merkle, Jacob VVanner, Peter Krob,
Michael Grist, Philip Grob, Nicholas Barou, Christian Rink,
Michael Gellinger.

Richmond is bounded on the north by Greenwich ; on the east
by Maxatawny; south by Rockland and Ruscommanor; south-
west by Maiden creek, and west by Windsor township. Mean
length five miles, and breadth four, containing tw^elve thousand,
four hundred and eighty acres of land, generally pretty level ;
gravel and limestone soil of a superior quality, and well culti-
vated. Brown argdaccous iron ore occurs at Mosekm ; it is
extensively mined, and affords ore for Hunter's Furnace on
Moselem creek. Sacony, Maiden creek, and Moselem creek,
all afford water power. There are four or five mills in this
township ; three churches ; the Moselem church was erected in
1761.

There are several villages in this township; Coxtown, in the
extreme south part of the township, w^as laid out about fifty
years ago by one Cox, whose name it bears; there are two stores
and two taverns in it, and the usual handicraft. Walnut town,
a few miles west of Cox town,, has some eight or ten houses,
Virginsville consists of half a dozen houses, two taverns and
a store.

There is a remarkable natural curiosity in this township. It
is called the Dragon's cave. It has been described by a gen-
tleman of Berks county. "The entrance to the cave," he
says, " is on the brow of a hill, in the edge of a cultivated field.

HiStORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 242

Passing into it, the adventurer descends about fifty yards by a
rough narrow passage, and then turns to the left .at an acute
angle with the passage hitherto pursued. After proceeding
about thirty yards farther, he enters the great chamber, about
fifty feet long, twenty wide, and fifteen to twenty feet high, in
a rock of limestone. Near the end of this chamber, opposite to
the entrance, is the altar, a large mass of Stalactile, which
rings under the hammer, and is translucent. Formations of
Stalactile are found in other parts of the cave, though none so
large as the mass just mentioned."

Population in 1810, 971 ; 1829, 1,135; 1830, 1,550; 1840,
2,006. Horses 383; horned cattle 911; sheep 800; swine
1,440; bushels of wheat raised 19,715; rye 16,177; corn 17,-
980; oats 25,125; buckwheat 2,050; potatoes 6,498 ; tons of
hay 1,469; pounds of wool 1,579; flax 2,448. Whole amount
of valuation on all articles made taxable for county purposes in
1844, $519,272; whole amount of county tax $1,158 54;
gross amount of State tax ^?734 75,

ROBESON TOWNSHIP.

Robeson toicnship was settled at an early period. Among
its first and principal settlers, were the Friends or Quakers.-^-
These were Gains Dickinson, John Scarlet, and Peter Thomas —
all Friends, and who settled when the country was a wilder-
ness.

Little has been preserved of the first settlers, of interest. —
Our friend, T. E. Lee, of Exeter, has furnished the following:
"Thomas," says Lee, "was in the habit of turning out his
cattle to browse upon the bushes, and sending a boy and girl
in the evening to collect them; one evening, the dark shades
began to spread gloom over the forest, but they did not return.
The old man, like the father of Saul, left caring for the cattle,
and cared only for the children. He set off in search of them,
and proceeding along a path through the thick woods for a
distance, he met the children returning, while the wolves and
bears were howling around them."

Among the early, or first settlers of this township, may be
named, Thomas Ellis, of Wales, William Morris, Mordecai
21

S42 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

and Thomas Ellis; John, George, and Thomas Boone, of Eng'*
land; John, William, and Edward Hugh, of Wales; John-;^
James, Joseph, Benjamin, and Samuel Webb, of England. '
In 1756, the following persons were assessed as taxables:

Michael Kern, John Scarlet, James Bird, Arnold Sheafer,-
Jacob Redcay, Peter Licken, John Griffith. George Sower,
Gerhart Dewees, John Howman, David Jarred, Thos. ThomaSy
Ephraim Jackson, Owen Humphrey, Owen Long, David Thom-
as, Edward Goff, George Dykes, Enos Ellis, George Donhow-er,
Adam Bedenhower, John Williams, William Northen, Gaius
Dickenson, Philip Hoyle, Melchior Swisher, Christian Treat,
Henry Reicher, Stephen Doughty, Elias Redcay, John Sheaver,
John Evans, George Wendle, Baltzer Schneider, Nicholas Mil-
ler, Jones Liken, Conrad Moore, James Thomas, Jenkin Mor-
ris, James Cadwallad^ Sebastian Harleman, John Philips, Wil-
liam Harvot, John HoUem, Felty Ems, Henry Pennybecker,
Felty Haun, Josiah Boone, Michael Miller, Michael Snousser,
Chri-stian Ehrgott, Anthony Bernhard, Daniel Bane, Christian
Keiger, Jacob Bechtel, Philip Hart, Michael Kern, Israel
Robinson, Benjamin Williams, Samuel Overholtzer, Adam
Staut, Jacob Koch, Richard George, Robert Morris, Ellis
George, David James, Edward George.

Robeson township is bounded oi>. the north-east by the
Schuylkill river, separating it from Exeter township; on the
east by Union township and Chester county ; on the south by
Cffirnarvon; on the south-west by Brecknock, and north- wesj
by Cumru. Mean length, six miles and a quarter; breadth,
five; containing twenty-one thousand acres of land, of a very
ordinary quality, naturally hilly. It is watered by the Alle-
gheny creek^ and Hay creek, on both of which, are forges, and
several mills. There are two churches in this township, and
a Friends meeting house.

Population in 1810, 1,807; 1820, 2,2065; 1830, 1,970;
1840, 1,965; of these there were white males, 971; females
963; colored males 17; females 14. Horses 422; horned cat-
tle 1,304; sheep 830; swine 810; bushels of w'heat raised
7,229; rye 14,120; corn 20,691; oats 1,505; buckwheat 1,360;
potatoes 9,997; tons of hay 1,270; pounds of wool 1,106; flax
1,621. Whole amount of valuation on all articles made taxa^-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES 243

fele for county purposes in 1844, $424,444; whole amount of
county tax $648 88 ; gross amount of state tax $470 22.

ROCKLAND TOWNSHIP.

Rockland township was settled at the time those were by
which it is bounded, and by a similar class of persons, nine-
tenths of whom were Germans. In 1757, the following were
its taxables :

John Albrecht, George Angstadt, John Angstadt, Charles
Bernhard, Nicholas Blatner, Jacob Boger, Philip Berminger,
Nicholas Benninger, John Bot, William Bot, Conrad Bair, Ja-
cob Boral, Casper Bicking, Mathias Beck, Peter Breifogel,
Ludwig Brem, Nicholas Clementz, Michael Dressier, Melcbior
Donner, Henry De Long, William Dabitsch, Jacob Dreg, Ni-
cholas Debb, Dcobald Drumheller, John Eck, Peter Ernst,
Jacob Ellinger, George Fleck, William Folck, Peter Folck,
George Helher, Christian Henry, Frederick Hersch, Jacob
Hoffman, George Hoffman, Peter Luder, Nicholas Jacobi, Mi-
chael Kerber, Michael Klein, Peter Klassmoyer, Andreas Krett,
Simon Kerber, Jacob Krebs, Jacob Keim, Michael Keim, Peter
Lobach, Henry Long, Nicholas Long, Ludwig Long, Michael
Long, John Moll, Henry Mertz, Nicholas Moyer, Geo. Ober-
dorfi', Peter Ruflf', sen., Peter Ruff, jr., Lorentz Berig, Casper
Rap, Peter Remer, Frederick Reish, Conrad Roth, Casper
Rubbert, Ludwig Roiizanner, Henry Showash, Christian Shu-
raachir, George Schumachir, Frederick Schackler, John Scheu-
erer, George Scheffer, George Seibert, (Seuwert) Frederick
Ubrick, Adam Wagner, AdamWecht, Jacob Ziegemfuss, Hen-s-
ry Mertz, Herman Emrich, George Reif, Jacob Hefner, Peter
Kieffer, Michael Jacobi, Peter Anstat, Michael Scheffer, Chris-
tian Kolb, Ludwig Bitting.

Rochland is bounded as follows, at present. Some slight
alterations in the boundary having been made within a few
years. It is bounded on the north by Maxatawny township ;
on the north-east by Long-swamp ; on the east by District ;
south-east by Pike; on the south by Oley; on the west by
Ruscoramanor ; and north-west by Richmond ; mean length five
iniles; tjreadth four ; containing twelve thousand acres of land;

244 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

rather hilly, gravel soil, and indifferently cultivated. With a
little care, as to rotation of crops, and the application of vege-
table and mineral manures, it might be rendered productive. It
is not well watered ; still there are several mills, one furnace,
and two forges, in this township.

There is some iron ore in this township, from which the fur-
nace is supplied. There is one church in this township, com-
mon to the Lutherans and German Reformed.

Population in 1810, 1,026; 1820, 1,131; 1830, 1,342
822 white males, 825 females, 3 colored males and 5 females
Total, 1,655; horses 252; horned cattle 581; sheep 591
swine 871; bushels of wheat raised 4,380; rye 9,511; corn
8,382; oats 6,387; buckwheat 1,923; potatoes 5,986; tons of
hay 653; pounds of wool 1,027; flax 1,710. Whole amount
of valuation on all articles made taxable by law for county
purposes, for 1844, $289,907; amount of county tax $579 81.
Whole amount of valuation for state purposes, on all articles
made taxable for county purposes, excepting trades, occupa-
tions and professions, above $200, for statepurposes, $265 17;
gross amount of state tax, $312 80.

E.USC0MMAN0R TOWNSHIP.

Rusconmmnor township, like all the adjacent townships, was
beginning to be settled between the years 1732 and 1745, As
early as 1749, the following were landholders within this
township :

David Foil, Andrew Brenst, John Miller, John Wilkhammer,
Adam Shumble, John Wilhams, Conrad Bruse, Jacob Perteller,
Yost Waggoner, Martin Spiegelmeuer, Martin Nerr, Frederick
Sprung, Embrich Billiar, Mathias Beck, Peter Rise, Philip
Miller, John Fogell, Derick Swath, Derick Long, Mathias
Rhole, George Angstad, Peter Crell, John Shous, George Hef-
ner, Casper Burk, John Sharaber, Jacob Mickle, Peter Hidle-
man, Felty Becker, Jacob Libhart, Jacob Siraer, Ulrich Becker,
Philip Smith, Christian Shoemaker, Jacob Ely, Bastian Garn-
ard, Ber. Fogle, Peter Rise.

It is almost a matter of astonishment that this portion of
Berks should have been thus early and densely settled, when it

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 345

is considered that the soil is of the most ordinary kind, and the
surface hilly. About the year 1760, the number of taxables
had almost doubled itself from 1740, to that period.

Ruscommanor is bounded on the north by Richmond, north-,
east by Rockland, on the east by Oley, south-west by Alsace,
and north-west by Maiden creek; contains about ten thousand
acres of ordinary, and hilly land ; soil gravelly, and very indif-
ferently cultivated — much room for improvement.

There are one or two villages in this township. Pricetown,
laid oul by Conrad Price nearly seventy years ago; contains
twenty-five houses — one store and two taverns. Population
16o.

Speachtown, a village with seven houses and twenty-five
inhabitants — this place was laid out between thirty and forty
years ago, by a certain Boarsmith. There are three or four
grist mills in this township.

Population in 1801, 932; 1820, 1,056; 1830, 1,243; 1840,
1,189 : horses 88; horned cattle 222; sheep 247; swine 288 ;
bushels of wheat raised 1,502; rye 2,943 ; corn 2,465; oats
2,958 ; buckwheat 337 ; potatoes 2,970 ; tons of hay 253 ;
pounds of wool 477 ; flax 458. Whole amount of valuation
on all articles made taxable for county purposes in 1844,
$227,528 ; county tax $455 05 ; e-ross amount of State tax
$258 90.

TULPEHOCKEN TOWNSHIP.

Tidpehocken township was so named after a tribe of Indians
called Turpyhockin, who inhabited this region of country,
whose chief was named Manangy, called the Indian chief on
Schuylkill. This region of country is respectively mentioned
in the Provincial Record of Pennsylvania. It appears to have
been a place of thorough pass, from an Indian village, called
Peixtan, on the Susquehanna, to Philadelphia.

We find that in 1707, that one Nicole, French and Indian
trader, was apprehended by persons, sent by government at
Peixtan, and carried to Philadelphia, via Turpyhocken. —
" Martin went again to Peixtan, and brought Nicole where we
we lay in concealed, and asking him to drink a dram, he seized

21*

246 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

him; but Nicole started from him, and run for it, when imme-
diately we started out and took him, and presently carried him
to the village (Peixtan) through which we were obliged to
pass ; and there we found some Indians, with guns in their
hands, who looked much displeased at what we had done ; but
being in readiness against any surprise, they thought it not fit
to attempt any thing. Here we staid about half an hour, and
then parted for Turpyhocken — having mounted Nicoli on a
horse, and tied his legs under the belly, we got within a mile
of Turpyhocken at about two of the clock. On Friday morn-
ing, about seven, the governor w^ent to the town, from thence
we went to Manatawny that night, and the next day to Phila-
delphia."*

The first white settlers were Palatines, who had emigrated
from New York, of whom a general notice has been given,
when speaking of the first settlers in Heidelberg tov/nship, to
v/hich the reader is referred.

John Adam Diffebach, Christian Lovv-er, John Spycker, Ja-
cob Lederman, Jacob Fisher, John Soller, Jacob Sorbert, Fran-
cis Wenrich, Ulrich Schwartz, Stephen Conrad, Conrad Sherf,
John Livergood, Peter Sanns, Adam Stein, John Edwards,
George Null, Jacob Livergood, Francis Parvin, Henry Seller,
Ludowick Ansbach, George King, Peter Krieger, John Weis-
er, Peter Lebo, Christopher Weiser, George Beistein, Jacob
Ketterman, Peter Ansbach, Michael Ried, Herman Walborn,
Frederick Reed, George Landauer, Henry Boj^er, Martin Stip,
Abraham Lauch, Peter Serby, Casper Reed, (Ritt) Peter Reed,
Lenard Rees, Adam Lesh, Philip Brown, Peter Shever, Felty
(Onroo) Unruth, John Fohrer, Christopher Reiser, John Traut-
man, ]\Iichael Detweiler, Nicholas Kinser, John Moir, Henry
Stein, Christian Moir, George Sherman, Peter Keephart, Wil-
liam Keyser, George Jacob Sherman, Gottfried Rohrer, Jacob
Holfman, Mathias Doebler, George Wolf, Bartel Dissinger,
George Tollinger, Jacob Reed, Frederick Kaufman, Christian
Frank, Rudolph Moir, Michael Kofner, George Brosius, Jacob
Bortner, Jacob Casert, Casper Reed, Christopher Ulrich, Jo-
hann Jacob Snebly, Mathias Bricker, John Pontius, Peter Cri-
ser, Daniel Lucas, William Keyser, Philip Gebhart, George
Ulrich Fisher, William Dieler, Jacob Miller, Jacob Hubelor,

* Col. Rec, ii., p. 405.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 247

Jacob Wilhelm, Jacob Bartner, Nicholas Oily, John Hover-
shen, Simon Scherraan, John Riegel, Jacob Schwaner, Henry
Millberger, Wolf Miller, George Paffinberger, Geo, Kantrico,
Daniel iVIoir, Martin Schell, Adam Jordan, Jacob Tantor, Ja-
cob Fullman, Mathias Noffziger, John George Meirslem, Jacob
Miller, Simon Bogenreif, Andrew Wollinbeck, George Goty-
man, Henry Reidenbach, John Baltzer Shever, Valentine
Brindseil, Martin Warner, William Brath, Gottfried Fitler,
Peter Mink, Casper Stump, Mathias Wagner, Nicholas Ham-
ber, Nicholas Miller, George Weaver, Philip Meade, John
Philip Bunger, George Christ, Conrad Wirth, Conrad Reber,
Valentine Bungardner, Nicholas Lang, Frederick Stap, Valen-
tine Neu, Christian Kurtz, John Ebberts, Michael Albert, Tho-
mas Kern, Mathias Shefer, John Ridnorc, Jacob Stough, John
George Mats, Wilham Sassaman, Adam Rehm, Johan Adam
Weaver, Peter Laux, Jacob Houksvert.

This, like many other tovv'nshlps, was the scene of Indian
massacres, as may be seen on examining the third chapter of this
book. Here I will insert one of many soul-stirring stories of
Indian massacres, which we find in the Halhsche Nachrichten.
This is from the pen of the Rev. Muhlenberg, the great apos-
tle of Ameiican Lutheranism. " It may teach us, says a cer-
tain writer,* alike to appreciate the security of our worship,
and the better cost at which our fathers provided for it, may
teach us that we are reaping the fruits of their sweat and
blood." The case was that of a man whose two grown
daughters had attended a course of instruction by Mr. Muh-
lenberg, and been solemnly admitted by confirmation to the
communion of the church.

" This man afterwards went with his family some distance
into the interior, to a tract of land which he had purchased. —
When the war with the Indians broke out, he removed his
family to his former residence, and occasionally returned to his
farm, to attend to his grain and cattle. On one occasion he
went, accompanied by his two daughters, to spend a few days
there, and bring away some wheat. On Friday evening, after
the wagon had been loaded, and every thing was ready for
their return on the morrow, his daughters complained that they

* Dr. S. S. Schmucker, see lie Pasa EHlcsia, pp. .38-3, .386, by /. D.
Rufp, published by James Y. Humphreys, Phila., 1844.

248 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

felt anxious and dejected, and were impressed with the idea
that they were soon to die. They requested their father to
unite with them in singing the familiar German funeral hymn,
Wer Weiss wie nahe mein Ende? " Who knows how near my
end may be?" — after which they commended themselves to
God in prayer, and retired to rest.

" The hght of the succeeding morn beamed upon them, and
all was yet well. Whilst the daughters were attending to the
dairy, cheered with the joyful hope of soon greeting their
friends, and being out of danger, the father went to the field
for the horses, to prepare for their departure home. As he
was passing through the field, he suddenly saw two Indians,
armed with rifles, tomahawks, and scalping knives, making
towards him at full speed. The sight so teriified him, that he-
lost all self command, and stood motionless and silent. When
they were about twenty yards from him, he suddenly, and with
all his stregth exclaimed, "Lord Jesus, living and dying, i . .ii
thine." Scarcely had the Indians heard the words "Lord Je-
sus," (which they probably knew as the white man's name of
the Great Spirit,) when they stopped short, and uttered a
hideous yell.

"The man ran with almost supernatural strength into the
dense forest, and by taking a serpentine course, the Indians lost-
sight of him, and relinquished the pursuit. He hastened to an
adjoining farm, where two German families resided, for assis-
tance. But on approaching near it, he heard the dying groans
of the famiUes, who were falling beneath the murderous toma-.
hawk of some other Indians.

" Having providentially not been observed by them, he hast--
ened back to learn the fate of his daughters. But, alas! on
arriving within sight, he found his home and barn enveloped
with flames ! Finding that the Indians had possession here,
too, he hastened to another adjoining farm for help. Return-
ing, armed with several men, he found the house reduced to
akhcs, and the Indians gone. His eldest daughter had been
almost entirely burnt up, a few remains only of her body, being
found! And awful to relate, the younger daughter, though the
scalp'had been cut from her head, and her body horribly mangled
from head to foot with the tomahawk, was yet living! " The
poor worm," says Muhlenberg, "was yet able to state all the
circumstances of the dreadful scene." After having done so>

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 249

she requested her father to stoop clown to her, that she might
give him a parting kiss, and then go to her dear Saviour; and
after she had impressed her dying lips upon his cheek, she
yielded her spirit into the hands of that Redeemer, who, though
his judgments are often unsearchable, and his ways past finding
out, has nevertheless said, ' I am the resurrection and the life,
if any man believe in me, though he die, yet shall he hve.'" —
This is only one of many similar cases that has occurred in
Berks and Lebanon counties.

Tulpehocken (Lower) was separated from Upper Tulpehoc-
ken. It is bounded north by Little Swatara creek, which se-
parates it from Bethel township — on the east by Upper Tulpe-
hocken, and south by Marion — a township about being organ-
ized out of part of Heidelberg and Lower Tulpehocken; and
on the west by Lebanon county ; contains about 20,000 acres
of layd — limestone and gravel — very productive; mean length
efg^t miles ; breadth six miles. Besides the Swatara on the
north, (and its tributaries,) it is also watered by Mill creek,
%vhich also rises in this township. There are two churches,
one near Mill creek, and one at Rohrersburg, common to the
Lutherans and German Reformed. There are several villages
or towns in this township. There are several mills in the
township.

Rohrersburg is on the road from R,eading to Sunbury, about
twenty-two miles from Reading, counting rising of fifty houses,
several stores and taverns. Population about 800.

Wohleberstown is a small village, not numbering more than
fifteen or eighteen houses, a tavern and store, and several me-
chanic's shops. It is on the road to Myerstown, in Lebanon
county, and on the Jonestown road.

Population in 1830, 3,200 ; 1840, 2,941 ; horses 713 ; horn-
ed cattle 1,923; sheep 765; swine 2,581; bushels of wheat
raised 29,397 ; rye 10,756 ; corn 80,300 ; oats 47,212 ; buck-
vfheat 837 ; potatoes 5,986 ; tons of hay 651 ; pounds of w^ool
1,027 ; flax 1,710. Whole amount of valuation on all articles
taxable for county purposes in 1844, $1,027,212: county tax
1^2,054 42 : gross amount of State tax $1,291 10.

250 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

UNION TOWNSHIP.

Union township was settled originally by Swedes, Welsh and"
English, Among them we still find the Olmsteds or Umsteads,..
Kerlins, and others.

Among the princij^al settlers, as early as 1740 to 1745, were
the following:

John Godfrey, Thomas Pratt, Jacob Stover, Benjamin Mil-
lard, Timothy Millard, Thomas Millard, Joseph Millard,
Abraham Wanger, David Yoder, John Keiisey, Charles Mc-
Crreiv, Isaac Adams, Jonathan Millard, Samuel Harris, John
Godfrey, Christian Stanly, Richard Otty, Edward Hugh,
Cadwalader Hughes, Peter Henry, James Kelly, Solomon Da-
vis, Andreiu Smith.

In 1753 the foIlowin<T, including; some of the above named
persons, were returned as taxablcs of this township:

Casper Singhouse, William Bird, John Harrison, Henry
Winte?-herg, John Lincoln, Joseph Hunt, John Stone, George
Kerst, Thomas Pratt, Joseph Burgoyne, Timothy Millard,
Thomas Millard, Joseph Millard, Abraham Wenger, Daniel
Yoder, Jacob Sivisscr, John Madery, Charles McGreic, Wool-
rich Reinhard, Jacob Basence, Thomas Bavfeld, John God-
frey, Mordecai Han-is, Jonathan Millard, Peter Flickinger,
Andrew Gibson, John Haas, Stephen Lewis, Andrew Hoofman,
Mounce Jones, Evan EvaTis, Penal Evans, Frederick Hoofle,
Morgan Lewis, Peter Funk, Conrad Walter, Richard Otta,
James Robert, Edward Hughes, William Hoiv, Aron Hart-
man, Lochlan Doyle, Jacob Mizel, Robert Galoway, George
Trouck, Mordecai Millard, Peter Roofner, Frederick Haas,
James McGrew-, Adam Helmstater, William Adams, Owen
Hugh.

Union towmship is bounded north-east by the Schuylkill,
which separates it from Amity ; south by Chester county, wess
and north-west by Robeson. Its mean length five miles— r
breadth four miles : containing about twenty-one thousand acres
of land, of the most ordinary quality — the greater part is poor
and hilly, and upon the whole not well improved. It contains
l^Ut one small village — Unionville. It is watered by the Schuyk

CISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANoN COtJIfTlE&, 251

Ifill, Hay creek and Sixpence rnn — upon which is a forge — mill
creek and two branches of French creek, on one of which is
Hopewell furnace. There are six mills in this township-.

Population in 1810, 706 : 1820, 921 : 1830, 1,046 : 1840,
1,298 : horses 303 : horned cattle 976 : sheep 569: swine 688:
■bushels of wheat raised 6,386 : rye 11,013: corn 14,839: oats
18,062: buckwheat 598 : potatoes 8,375 : tons of hay 1,719:
pounds of wool in 1844, 234,710: county tax 8469 43 : state
tax i263 26.

WINDSOR TOWNSHIP.

Windsor township was began to be pretty generally settled
between 1740 and 1752, the time when Berks was organized.
The natural advantages it would secure, at presens. Were not
great to induce the first settlers to locate here : notwithstand-
ino-, we find a large number of taxable inhabitants — four or five
years after the erection of the county — there were nearly one
hundred then.

Michael Kreisher, Adam Kuhn, Adam Kleim, Andrew Seitle,
Adam Lukenbill Conrad Kerschner, Conrad Hausman, Chris-
tian Hausenknecht, Clementz Dunkelberger, Conrad Heiser,
Broch, Christopher Brenninger, Daniel Kemp, Deobald Werner,
Daniel Hill, Elias Stein, Edward Shoppie, Gerhard Will, Geo.
Anstat, George Haner, George Adam Wagner, George Bau-
man, George Gatschall, George Ressler, George Stenger, Geo.
Folb, George Charles, George Schneider, George Paust, Geo.
Gartner, George Crane,' George Miller, Henry Keim, Heniy
Gross, Henry Scheuerer, Henry Popst, Henry Kalbach, John
Kerber, Jacob Wingerd, Jonathan Worrell, John Hover, John
Herd, Jeremiah Schoble, Jacob Petery, Jacob Hauer, Jacob
Hill, Jacob Hummel, Jacob KraefF, Jacob Roush, John Hauser,
John Hess, John Mayer, Yost Kreischer, Melchior Keiber,
Killian Dunkel, Leonard Reber, Lawrence Kuntz, Leonard
Keplinger, Michael Rentzler, Michael Deobald, Mathias Braun,
^-Michael Schlaire, Mathias Alsbock, Martin Werner, Mathias
Frieher, Martin Roush, Michael Eisenman, Nicholas Wingerd,
Nicholas Frieh, Dietrich Leonard. Peter Bordelein, Philip

\ x^aJU---

252 HISTORY OF bERKS AND LfcBAJfON COUNTIES.

Hensel, Peter Weber, Philip Hill, Peter Dunkelberger, Philip
Hinckel, Reinhard Alsbach, Sebastian Kreischer, Wendel Kief^
fer, William Bussler, Wendel Hauer, Wendel Ernst, Jacob
Miller, Jacob Martin, John Miller, Casper Schmidt, Charles
Havelle, Philip Schweitzer, Philip Wentzel, George Mauty,
Anthony Adam, David Alsbach, Casper IBreninger, John Con-
radi, Jacob Linch, Nicholas Hallabach.

This township, as well as all the other townships along the
Elue Mountain, was the repeated scenes of Indian massacres.
For a particular account of persons who fell victims to the
cruelties of the Indians, the reader is referred to the third chap-
ter of this book.

Windsor township is bounded on the north-west by Schuyl"
kill county ; north-east by Albany and Greenwich ; and on the
east by Maiden creek, which separates it from Richmond town-
ship, and from Greenwich for several miles; on the south by
Maiden creek township ; on the w^est by the Schuylkill river,
separating it from Centre and Upper Bern; mean length, eight
miles; breadth four miles and a half; containing nearly twenty^
nine thousand acres of gravel land, somewhat hilly.

" The Schuylkill river and canal run along the western
boundary: and Maiden creek forms the eastern boundary. —
The Elue Mountain fills the north-western corner. The vil-
lao-e of Hamburg (see below) lies on the turnpike road to
Northumberland, near the river below the Water Gap. A
church, used by the Lutherans and German Reformed, is cen-
trally situated in the tov/nship, and another near Hamburg. —
There is a furnace at the foot of the Blue Mountain, at the
head of a tributary of Maiden creek." There are several mills
in this township, one of them near Hamburg.

Hamburg is a considerable village on the east bank of the
Schuylkill river. It contains between ninety and one hundred
dwellings: several stores, taverns, and one church: population
nearly six hundred. There is a bridge over the Schuylkill
here. Considerable improvement has lately been made on the
country around this town. Some of the land has been render-
ed highly productive. This shows what can be done by pro-
ber culture.

■^ Population of the township in 1730, 2,298; 1840, 2,839.
Hores 340: horned cattle 845: sheep 584: swine 1,029: bush-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 253

els of wheat raised 3,998; rye 16,945; corn 13,562; oats 21,-
884; buckwheat 2,531; potatoes 9,439; tons of hay 1,095;
pounds of flax 602. Whole amount of raluation on all articles
made taxable for county purposes in 1844, $626,959; county
tax $1,252 31; state tax $690 15.

UPPER TULPEHOCKKW.

Upper Tulpehocken, and Upper Bern, lie at the base of the
Blue mountain. For the names of the first settlers, the reader
is referred to the townships of Bern and Lower Tulpehocken.

The following list embraces all who had settled on and along
the mountain between the Schuylkill and Swatara, and as far
as the first ridge of mountains between these two streams, at
the time Berks county was organized :

Jacob Shaver, George Mock, George Webb, Burgoin Bird,
Thomas Willots, Francis Yamal, Rudolph Henry, William
Hughs, Richard Stephen, John Fincher, Thomas Ellis, John
Green, John Willots, Paul Himss, Rudolf Kendle, Joseph Jor-
don, John Jones, Jacob Fudge, Jacob Grosshaup, Mathias
Swisie, Philip Hope, Michael Homel, George Seiffer, William
Anderson.

This township is bounded on the north by Schuylkill county,
on the east by Northkill river, which divides it from Upper Bern
and Penn township ; on the south by Tulpehocken creek, sepa-
rating it from Heidelberg; on the west by Lower Tulpehocken
and by Bethel township; mean length seven miles; breadth,
four ; containing about twenty-eight thousand acres of land of
a good quality; soil, limestone and gravel; surface somewhat
diversified. Much of this township is in a good state of culti-
vation. It is well supplied with water by the Northkill,
Tulpehocken, Little Northkill and Swatara creeks. The Union
Canal follows the Tulpehocken along the southern boundary of
the township.

There is a brick church, common to the Lutherans and Ger-
man Reformed, near Little Northkill, and the road from Ham-
burg and Rohrersburg. There are six mills in this township.
22

254 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBA^ION COUNTIES »

Population in 1830,1,456; 1840, 1,537; horses 538; hortied
cattle 1,484 ; sheep 781 ; swine 1,207 ; bushels of wheat raisecl
9,341; rye 22,752; corn 14,201; oats 21,318; buckwheat
2,266 ; potatoes 9,531 ; tons of hay 1,457 ; pounds of wool
1,358 ; flax 1^787 ; whole amount of valuation on all articles
made taxable for county purposes in 1844, $448,531 ; county
tax $897 06 ; state tax $489 37.

UPPER BERN,

Upper Bern — this township was originally included, as also
Centre and Penn, at the time when Berks county was erected,
under the name of Bern. The names of the first settlers of this
portion, are given when speaking cf Bern, Upper Bern has,
since its organization, been considerably reduced, by taking
portions from it, in erecting Centre and Penn townships. Its
present boundary is as follows : on the north it is bounded by
Schuylkill county; on the east by the Schuylkill river, which
divides it from Windsor township ; on the south by Centre and
Penn ; on the west by Northkill, which separates it from Upper
Tulpehocken. The surface on the north part is hilly — some-
what level in the southern part — soil of an ordinary quality,
nearly all gravel.

The township is watered by the Schuylkill, Northkill, and
some smaller streams. There are several mills in it. There is
one church, four taverns, and two stores in it.

Population in 1810, 1,342; 1820,2,017; 1830,2,117; 1840,
2,750: horses 906, horned cattle 1,912, sheep 1,126, swine
1,846, bushels of wheat raised 12,667, rye 28,113, corn 30,905,
oats 24,747, buckwheat 3,596, potatoes 16,318, tons of hay
1,844, pounds of wool 1,677, flax 352 : whole amount of val-
uation on all articles made taxable for county purposes in 1844.
$357,248; county tax $741 49; state tax 603 45.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

Washington ^tOTwAip was divided off from the south-western

HISTORY OF jBERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 255

part of Hereford, and the north-eastern part of Colebrookdale.
For the names of the first settlers of this part of Berks county,
the reader is referred to Hereford and Colebrookdale town-
ships, in this book.

This township is hounded on the north-east by Hereford ;
south-east by Montgomery county; south-west by Colebrook-
dale ; north-west bv Earl, Pike and District. It is watered by
the west branch of Perkiomen creek and Sw-amp creek, in the
southern part of the township.

This township has two small villages — Schult?ville, near the
centre of the township, laid out by C. K. Schultz. It is on the
cross roads leading from Kutztown to Philadelphia, and from
Allentown to Boyerstown. It has four houses, one tavern and
a post office.

Bechtelsville laid out by J. S. Bechtel, is on the Allentown
and West Chester state road. The cluster of houses embraces
four dwellings, one grist mill, one saw^ mill, one oil mill, one
black-lead mill, and several mechanics shops.

The township has three stores, three taverns, four grist mills,
four saw mills, one wool carding machine, one shoe peg manu-
factoryj two forges, one iron foundry, two oil mills. A Roman
CathoHc chapel, and two meeting houses — the Schwenkfelder
and Mennonite meeting houses.

CENTRE TOWNSHIP.

Centre iownshij) was formed out of the southern part of Up-
per Bern, and northern part of Bern, and is bounded as follows:
on the north by Upper Bern, on the east by the Schuylkill
river, dividing it from Windsor and Maiden creek, on the south
by Bern and Penn, and on the west by Penn ; mean length and
breadth six miks, containing twenty thousand acres of land of
ordinary quahty — gravel soil — somewhat undulating. It is wa-
tered by the Schuylkill river, Irish creek and Plum creek.
There are three or four mills in this township. Bellman's
church, common to the Lutherans and German Reformed, is the
only church in the township.

Population in 1840, 1,216: horses 226, horned cattle 560,
sheep 481, swine 473, bushels of wjieat raised 4,949; rje 5^612;,

256 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

corn 6,618, oats 6,708, buckwheat 972, potatoes 4,050, tons
of hay 793, pounds of wool 429, flax 1,425: whole amount of
valuation on all articles made taxable for county purposes in
1844, $365,273 ; county tax $730 54; state tax $842 31.

PENN TOWNSHIP.

Penn township — like Centre — was formed since 1840, out of
a portion of Upper Bern and Bern townships. It is bounded on
the north by Upper Bern, on the east by Centre and Bern, on
the south by Bern, south-west and west by Tulpehocken creek
and Northkill, separating it from Heidelberg and Upper Tulpe-
hocken townships. It embraces seme good land, though prin-
cipally gravel soil. Scull Hill, nearly central, gives it a varie-
gated aspect. This township is well watered. Besides the
Tulpehocken and Northkill, several smaller streams rise in this
township — such as Irish creek. Plum creek and Licking creek.
There are several mills in it, and Northkill church, not far from
Bernville, a small village fourteen miles from Reading. This
town contains some fifty houses, and several stores and taverns.
It has a population of about three hundred. The country around
this village has been much improved within the last ten years.

Whole amount of valuation on all articles made taxable for
county purposes in 1844, $399,317 ; county tax $798 63 ; state
tax $363 68.

LOWER HEIDELBERG TOWNSHIP.

Lower Heidelberg was originally a part of Heidelberg. For
the names of the first settlers, see Heidelberg — it is bounded on
the north-east by the Tulpehocken creek, separating it from
Bern, south-east by Cacoosing creek, dividing it from Cumru,
south-west by Lancaster county, and north-west by Heidelberg:
average length eight miles, breadth four and a half — containing
rising of fourteen thousand acres of land — some of it very good
— limestone soil, others ordinary — soil, gravel — surface level
and hilly. It is watered by the Tulpehocken, Cacoosing and

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. Hol

Spring creeks : a branch of the Cocahco rises in the south-
eastern corner of this township. There are several mills in it,
one church, called Hain's church. Present population pro-
bably between 1200 and 1300. Whole amount of valuation
on all articles made taxable for county purposes in 1844,
^680,094; county tax ^1,360 05; state tax $706 84.

MARION TOWNSHIP.'^

Marion township is about being organized out of part of
Heidelberg aud Lov/er Tulpehocken. This township embraces
a portion of country settled primitively by emigrants from New
York.

It was wathin the limits, near the present site of Stouchstown,
that Benjamin Spicker, the contemporary and intimate friend of
Conrad Weiser, resided. His house was a very public and
conspicuous place during the French and Indian war. Some
thrilling incidents occurred here. One of which is circumstan-
tially detailed in a letter from Conrad Weiser to Gov. Morris,
dated October 27, 17o5, an extract of Avhich is presented.

"After I had received the news that the Paxton people above
Hunter's mills, had been murdered, I immediately sent my ser-
vants to alarm the neighborhood. I informed them of the me-
lancholy news, and how I came by it, &c. They unanimously
agreed to stand by one another, and march to meet the enemy,
if I would go with them. I told them that I would not only
myself accompany them, but my sons and servants should also
go — they put themselves under my direction. I gave them or-
ders to go home and fetch their arms, whether guns, swords,
pitch-forks, axes, or whatever might be of use against the ene-
my, and to bring with them three days provision in their knap-
sacks, and to meet at Benjamin Spicker's, at three of the clock
that afternoon, about six miles above my house, in Tulpehocken
township, where I had sent word for Tulpehocken people also
to meet.

" I immediately mounted my horse, and went up to Benja-

* In January 1844, it was still undecided whether this township, with its
boundaries as given, would be confirmed by the proper authority.

22*

256 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

min Spicker's, where I found about one hundred persons who
had met before I came there ; and after I had informed them of
the intelUgence, that I had promised to go with them as a com-
mon soldier, and be commanded by such officers, and leading
men, whatever they might call them, as they should choose. —
They unanimously agreed to join the Heidelberg people, and
accordingly they went home, to fetch their arms, and provision
for three days, and came again at 3 o'clock. All this was
punctually performed ; and about two hundred were at Benja-
min Spicker's, by two o'clock.

I made the necessary disposition, and the people were divi-
ded into companies of thirty men in each company, and they
chose their own officers; that is, a captain over each company,
and three inferior officers under each, to take care of ten men,
and lead them on, or fire, as the captain should direct.

I sent privately for Mr. Kurtz, the Lutheran minister, who
lived about one mile off, who came and gave an exhortation to
the men, and made a prayer suitable to the time. Then we
marched towards Susquehanna, having first sent about fifty
men to Tolheo, in order to possess themselves of the gaps or
narrows of Swahatawro, where we expected the enemy would
come through ; with those fifty, I sent a letter to Mr. Parsons,
who happened to be at his plantation.

We marched about ten miles that evening. My company
had now increased to upwards of three hunched men, mostly
well-armed, though about twenty men had nothing but axes,
and pitchforks — all unanimously agreed to die together and en-
gage the enemy, wherever they should meet them ; never to
inquire the number, but fight them, and so obstruct their way
of marching further into the inhabited parts till others of our
brethren came up and do the same, and so save the lives of our
wives and children."

For further particulars the reader is referred to pages, 43,
44, 45, and 46.

Marion is bounded on the north by Tulpehocken; on the south-
east by Heidelberg, and on the south-west by Lebanon county.

It is watered by Tulpehocken creek, which divides it into
two unequal portions, and Millbach. It lies in the form of an
isoceles triangle. It embraces some of the best land in Berks
county. The turnpike road from Reading to Harrisburg pas-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES, 259

ses through for the distance of four miles. There are two
churches in this township, two mills, and one small town,

Stouchstown contains between twenty and thirty houses, one
store and tavern. It is situated on the turnpike.

EARL TOWNSHIP.

Earl Tovmship was originally part of Oley, and of course
was settled shortly after settlements had been commenced in
Oley. For the name of original or primitive settlers, the reader
is referred to the list in Oley township.

Earl is bounded on the north by Pike, on the east by Cole-
brookdale and Douglass, on the south by Amity, and on the
west by Oley : mean length four miles and a half; breadth
three miles and a quarter — containing nine thousand, five hun-
dred and twenty acres of land — soil, gravel — surface very hilly
— the South mountain passes through its south-west corner, on
which is Spring Forge. Iron creek has its sources in this town-
ship. Population in 1810, 653; 1820, 924; 1830, 979; 1840,
1,160 : horses 165, horned cattle 526, sheep 236, swine 434,
bushels of wheat raised 2,291, rye 4,872, corn 6,282, oats
'5,402, buckwheat 659, potatoes 2,502, tons of hay 504, pounds
of wool 454, flax 360 : whole amount on all articles made tax-
able for county purposes in 1844, $219,000; county tax
$438,000; state tax §242 19.

PIKE TOWNSHIP.

Pike township was formed out of parts of the several conti^
guous turnpikes. For the names of the first inhabitants of this
and Earl township, the reader is referred to Oley and Cole-
brookdale townships.

Nothing of any remarkableness, not common to the adjacent
townships, occurred in this township. Passing, it might be re-
marked that a certain Maria Yung, or, as she was wont to be
called "Die Berg Maria," lived as a solitaire for many years in
this township, near Motz's mill. It is said she led the life of a

260 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

hermitess for thirty years — that she had been visited by persons
from various parts of the country — some from the distance of
four hundred miles. She died at an advanced age, in 1819.

A gentleman of Oley, to whom we are indebted for these
facts, says he frequently, in company with others, visited Maria,
On her death he wrote the following epitaph :

Hierunter diesem Steine,

Sanft ruhen die Gebeine;

Der frommen Maria ;
Ihr Herz und ganzes Leben,

War ihrem Gott ergeben,

Dass man's an ihrem Wandel sah.

Sle hat ganz unverdrossen,

Bis dreisig Jahr verflossen,

In Einsamkeit gewohnt :
Ihr Angesichtes-Zuegen,

Verriethen Gottes Lieb,

Damit der Herr sie hat bplohnt

Nachdem sie schon verschieden,

Sah man den Suesen Frieden

In ihrem Angesicht ;
Es war voll Lieb und Wonn

Als zur Gnaden-sonn,
Noch immer hingericht.

Nun ist sie wegenommen ;

Gott hies sie zu sich kommen,

Aus diesem Jammerthal :
Wo auf den liimmels-Auen,

Sie Jesum wird anschauen,

Mit seiner auserwaehlten Zahl.

This township is bounded on the north-east by District, souths,
east by Washington and Colebrookdale, on the south by Earl
and Oley, on the west by Rockland — mean length four miles
and a half; breadth two miles and a half — containing six thou-
sand, five hundred acres of land — surface, large hills — soil, gra-
vel— poor and very ordinarily cultivated. It is watered by Pine
creek and other sources of Manatawny creek. Swamp creek
rises in this township. There are nine or ten mills in this town-
ship, and a forge: one church, near the south-east corner, owned
by the Lutherans and German Reformed.

Population in 1810,552; 1820,645; 1830,752; 1840,784;
horses 157, horned cattle 590, sheep 413, swine 483, bushels
'of wheat raised 4,244, rye 5,356, corn 6,441, oats 4,628,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 2G1

buckwheat 1,467, potatoes 3,301, tons of hay 694, pounds of
\rool 606, flax 716 : whole amount of valuation on all articles
made taxable by law for county purposes $151,911 ; county
tax $303 82; state tax $197 33,

CHAPTER XL

GENERAL STATISTICS OP BERKS COUNTY.

Statistics of Agriculture of Berks county, for 1838. Only
twenty-five, of thirty-five districts, had reported. By adding
about one-third to what is given below, we may approximate
to the true, or full amount.

The number of acres of limestone land cleared, is thirty
thousand four hundred ; of uncleared limestone land, thirteen
thousand eight hundred acres; cleared slate land, eleven thou-
sand six hundred acres; uncleared slate land, four thousand
eight hundred and fifty; gravel land cleared, eighty thousand
two hundred and sixty acres; uncleared gravfel land, thirty-six
thousand six hundred acres; sandy land, twenty-six thousand
seven hundred acres — mountain or rock land, thirty-six thou-
sand seven hundred and eighty — seven acres containing iron ore.
The whole quantity of cleared land, as reported, of all kinds,
is one hundred ninety thousand, and six hundred acres. This
falls far short of the actual quantity of cleared land, in 1844,
which cannot be less than two hundred and fifty thousand acres.
The whole quantity of uncleared land, but fit for cultivation, as
reported in 1838, is thirty-six thousand three hundred acres.
This, it is believed, is also much below its actual amount. The
probable number acres of uncleared land, but fit for cultivation,
is about one hundred thousand acres. The whole quantity of
uncleared land, unfit for cultivation, is sixty-four thousand two
hundred acres, according to, the report of 1838. This is also
too low; there aj-e rising of one hundred thousand acres that
come under this denomination. Berks county contains rising
of fiv? hundred thousand acres in all, [516,320.]

The average value per acre of cleared land, is thirty dollars;
and that of woodland fit for cultivation, twenty-seven dollars
per acre: woodland unfit for cultivation, twenty dollars per
acre ; the whole value of cleared land, as reported in 1838, is
four millions, eight hundred ninety-nine thousand and five hun-?.

mSTORV OP BERKS AND LEBANON COvMltS. 263

'dr6d dollars. The valuation in reality approximates eight nnT-
'iions. The whole valuation of uncleared land in 1838, was one
trillion eight hundred^ twentyfive thousand, three hundred and
fifty dollars. The true valuation approximates three millions.
For, in 1844, the whole amount of valuation on all articles
made taxable by law for county purposes, approximated nine-
teen millions of dollars, [18,617,-569.]

According to the report of 1838, there were two thousand
and twenty-one farms, averaging seventy-five acres each. The
whole number of stone farm houses, Was one thousand tWo hun-
dred and fifty-four ; brick houses, two hundred and seventy-
nine; wood farm houses, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-^
five; tenant houses on farms, (not farm houses) one thousand
two hundred and five. There were one thousand one hundred
and eighty-eight stone barns; of brick thirty-nine: one thou-
sand five hundred and seventy-five barns built of wood.

The whole number acres of wheat in 1838, was seventeen
thousand four hundred acres; of rye, nineteen thousand four
hundred and ten; of oats, fifteen thousand seven hundred; of
barley nine hundred and eighty : of Indian corn seventeen thou-
sand two hundred : in clover eleven thousand seven hundred :
in timothy si?c thousand six hundred : of natural meadow ten
thousand two hundred acres: in potatoes four thousand acres*,
turnips one thousand five hundred and ten: buckwheat one
thousand nine hundred and ninety: in flax seven hundred.

The average yield of wheat per acre in bushels, fifteen ; of
rye thirteen, oats twenty, barley twenty-five, corn thirty, do-
verseed two bushels, timothy seed two, natural meadow seed
two, potatoes eighty, turnips seventy-five, buckwheat twelve
bushels. Dressed flax per acre, seventy-five pounds. The whole
quantity of wheat produced in 1838 for market, two hundred
eight thousand and four hundred bushels; valued at three hun-
dred twelve thousand and six hundred dollars ; rye two hundred
one thousand and eight hundred bushels, valued at one hundred
and sixty-six thousand and six hundred dollars ; oats two hun-
dred forty-six thousand bushels, valued at eighty thousand one
hundred dollars ; barley one thousand and forty bushels, valued
at eight hundred and eighty dollars ; Indian corn one hundred
forty-seven thousand and two hundred dollars, valued at one
hundred eleven thousand and one hundred dollars.

Clover produced in tons, seven thousand three hundred dol^

264 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

lars, valued at seventy-three thousand dollars; timothy hay,
four thousand five hundred and fifty tons, valued at forty-eight
thousand one hundred dollars ; meadow hay, four thousand tons,
valued forty-four thousand one hundred dollars; potatoes, fifteen
thousand two hundred bushels produced for market, valued at
seven thousand one hundred dollars; turnips produced and sold
at market, five hundred and ten bushels, valued at three hun-
dred and seventy dollars; buckwheat, nine thousand seven him-
dred bushels, valued at seven thousand seven hundred and
eighty dollars; flax produced and dressed, fourteen thousand
eight hundred pounds, valued at two thousand nine hundred
dollars.

Lime, used as a manure, four hundred and forty-three thou-
sand bushels; cost per bushel, delivered in the field, twelve and
one half cent ; the average quantity per acre^ applied in one sea-
son is seventy-five bushels — the w^hole quantity supposed to
form a complete dressing; whole quantity of plaster or gypsum
used, one thousand four hundred and thirty-tons — thiee-fourths
of a bushel applied to an acre ; the cost per ton, ground, ten
dollars. The number of hands steadily employed in farming
(luring the year, six thousand six hundred and fifty ; the average
compensation per month of a hand, nine dollars. Work horses
employed in firming, six thousand nine hundred and five during
the year the aggregate value of which is three hundred and
sixty-five thousand five hundred dollars; forty-six work oxen
were employed, aggregate value, one thousand six hundred and
fifty-five dollars; the whole number of horses of all kinds, nine
thousand one hundred, the aggregate value, five hundred fiiteen'
thousand seven hundred; the whole number of oxen of all kinds,
three thousand seven hundred and eighty; the aggregate value
was seventy-five thousand four hundred dollars; the whole
number of all kinds, thirteen thousand six hundred and forty:
aggregate value, two hundred and forty-two thousand eight
hundred dollars; sheep of all kinds, twelve thousand four hun-
dred and sixty: aggregate value, twenty-six thousand dollars:
Merino sheep, only twenty: Saxony, thirty-five. The whole
number of swine of all kinds, twenty-one thousand nine hun-
dred and thirty: aggregate value, seventy-nine thousand one
hundred dollars. The whole number of pounds of beef sold and
killed, three hundred and thirty-two thousand seven hundred
pounds, at seven cents per pound ; pork salted and sold, one

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 265

Ihundred and one thousand four hundred pounds, at eleven
cents per pound ; pounds of mutton sold, thirty-one thousand
four hundred and fifty, at seven cents per pound.

The number of pounds of fine wool sold, two hundred pounds,
■at fifty cents; coarse wool, five thousand one hundred pounds,
at forty cents. Butter sold, two hundred and forty-four
thousand seven hundred pounds, at eighteen cents; one hun-
■dred and twenty pounds of cheese, at ten cents.

^MANUFACTURING STATISTICS.

The number of threshing machines in use, one hundred; corn
shellers one hundred and fifty-two; revolving horse rakes fifty-
three; cultivators and shovel harrows one thousand and thirty.
Valuation of oak firewood two dollars; hickory three per cord ;
stone coal five dollars per ton, delivered.

Number of grain mills one hundred and seven — twenty-three
thousand one hundred barrels of flour made — average price per
barrel, eight dollars. Whole number bushels of wheat ground,
two hundred and forty-five thousand five hundred bushels —
gross value three hundred seventy-two thousand, nine hundred
and seventy bushels. Whole number bushels of corn ground,
ninety-eight thousand four hundred — gross value seventy thou-
sand one hundred dollars. Barley ground, two hundred bush-
els— gross value one hundred and fifty dollars. Whole number
bushels of rye ground, three hundred and twenty-seven thou-
sand one hundred bushels — gross value two hundred and two
thousand, six hundred dollars. Whole number of hands em-
ployed in grain mills, one hundred and fifty. Amount of capi-
tal invested in mills, ninet}^-nine thousand two hundred. Forty-
eight distilleries were reported, which consumed fifteen thousand
seven hundred bushels of grain — produced forty-three thousand
eight hundred gallons : gross value of spirits distilled, eighteen
thousand eight hundred dollars: these distilleries consumed, as
fuel, one hundred and twenty tons of mineral coal, and six hun-
dred and ten cords of wood — employed fifty hands : capital
invested, twenty-eight thousand two hundred dollars. There
were three breweries, consuming four thousand one hundred
and fifty bushels of grain, and brewed sixty-eight thousand
23

«66 HISTORY OF B£RKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

three hundred gallons of malt liquor, and consumed eighty tons
of mineral coal, and one hundred and fifty cords of wood —
giving employment to seven hands, having invested three thou-
sand five hundred dollars — seven hundred gallons of grape wine
made : gross value seven hundred dollars : seven hundred and
twenty barrels of cider made : gross value one thousand four
hundred and seventy dollars. Eight furnaces for manufacturing
pig iron — three hot blast furnaces — three thousand seven hun-
dred and ninety tons of pig iron made — gross value one hun-
dred and eighteen thousand six hundred dollars : consumed three
hundred and fifty-four thousand, three hundred bushels of char-
coal— employed two hundred and ninety hands in manufacturing
pig iron : amount of capital invested in manufacturing iron, one
hundred and fifty-one thousand six hundred dollars. Five air
and cupola furnaces, made two hundred tons of casting — gross
value twenty-four thousand nine hundred dollars — consumed
five hundred tons of mineral coal, employed thirty hands, and
invested a capital of fifteen thousand dollars. Twenty-two
forges manufactured six hundred and ten tons of bar iron —
gross value forty thousand eight hundred dollars — number
tons of blooms, two thousand three hundred and fifty : gross
value one hundred and forty thousand eight hundred dollars —
consumed one hundred and ninety-nine thousand five hundred
bushels of charcoal — employed two hundred and seventy hands:
amount of capital invested, two hundred and ten thousand dol-
lars. Number of rolfino; mills two — manufactured two hundred
tons of rolled iron : gross value two hundred thousand dollars :
consumed five hundred tons of mineral coal — employed one
hundred and twenty hands : amount of capital invested, one
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. One nail factory
manufactured one thousand tons of nails — gross value one hun-
dred and twenty thousand dollars — consumed five tons of min-
eral coal — employed twenty hands — capital invested, twenty-
five thousand dollars. Two steam engine factories, two loco-
motive factories, and seven stationary, of all kinds — the whole
number of horse power of all the engines made, is one hundred
and ninety horse power : gross value of engines manufactured,
thirty-five thousand dollars — twelve hundred tons of mineral
coal consumed — two thousand bushels of charcoal — employed
thirteen hands : amount of capital invested, sixteen thousand
dollars. Two scythe or sickle manufactories, manufactured two

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 267

thousand scythes : gross value of scythes and sickles manufac;-
tured, one thousand seven hundred and seventy dollars — con-
sumed one ton of mineral coal, and two thousand three hundred
bushels of charcoal — employed three hands — capital invested,
seven hundred and eighty dollars. Seven axe and other edge
tool manufactories, manufactured three hundred and twenty
axes : gross value seven hundred dollars : consumed thirty tons
of mineral coal, and four thousand three hundred bushels of
charcoal — employed twelve hands — amount of capital invested,
nine hundred dollars. Seven gun factories manufactured three
hundred and seventy guns : gross value, one thousand nine hun-
dred and thirty dollars — consumed one thousand three hundred
and fifty bushels of charcoal — employed ten hands — amount of
capital invested, one thousand one hundred and thirty dollars.
Twelve copper and sheet iron ware manufactories — gross value
of tin ware manufoctured, eight thousand nine hundred and fifty
dollars — value of copper ware manufactured, one thousand dol-
lars— value of sheet iron manufactured, two thousand and fifty
dollars — consumed six tons of mineral coal, and one thousand
seven hundred and fifty-one bushels of charcoal — employed
thirty hands — amount of capital invested, seven thousand five
hundred dollars. Saw mills one hundred and three — saws in
use one hundred and three — quantity of stuffs sawed in super-
ficial feet of one inch thick, four millions, five hundred and one
thousand feet — employed one hundred and eleven hands —
amount of capital invested, seven thousand dollars. Carriage,
car and wagon manufactories, twenty-four — carriages manufac-
tured, one hundred and four, railroad cars nineteen, wagons one
hundred and fifty-three — gross value of vehicles of all kinds,
fifteen thousand five hundred — employed fifty-eight hands —
amount of capital invested, twelve thousand six hundred dol-
lars. Thirty-three manufactories of chair and cabinet ware —
gross value manufactured, twelve thousand two hundred and
ten dollars — employed fifty hands — amount of capital invested,
four thousand seven hundred and forty dollars. Ploughs man-
ufactured, two hundred and twenty-four — gross value, two
thousand three hundred and thirty dollars — employed fifteen
hands. Value of wooden ware, of all kinds manufactured,
including cedar and cooper's ware, two thousand two hundred
dollars — employed twenty hands. Woollen mills seven — setts
of woollen machinery seventeen — quantity of wool consupied,

268 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

seven thousand two hundred and fifty pounds — manufactarec?,
six thousand eight hundred yards of cloth — gross value of
woollen goods manufactured, five thousand and seventy dollars
— consumed three tons of mineral coal — number of hands em-
ployed, eighteen males and two females — amount of capital
invested, three thousand three hundred dollars. Seventeen
fulling mills — twenty-one thousand eight hundred yards of cloth
fulled — employed twenty hands — amount of capital invested,
two thousand one hundred dollars. Stocking factories, three —
manufactured five thousand five hundred pairs of stockings —
gross value manufactured, one thousand seven hundred dollars
— employed seven hands. Tanneries, fifty-one — thirty-seven
thousand eight hundred and thirty hides of all kinds tanned —
gross value of leather tanned and curried, ninety-six thousand
six hundred dollars — used two thousand one hundred and sev-
enty cords of bark — employed seventy-eight hands, amount of
capital invested, ninety-one thousand two hundred and twenty
dollars. Saddle and harness manufactories, seventeen — gross
value of saddles and harness made, thirteen thousand seven
hundred and ninety dollars — -employed thirty-five hands —
amount of capital invested, eight thousand and forty dollars.
Eoot and shoe manufactories, fifty-four — manufactured four
thousand two hundred pairs of boots, twenty-two thousand
seven hundred pairs of shoes — gross value, fifty-seven thou-
sand dollars — hands employed, one hundred sixty males, and
twenty-two females — capital invested, thirteen thousand nine
hundred dollars. Hat manufactories, eight — manufactured se-
ven thousand hats — gross value, fourteen thousand four hundred
and fifty dollars — consumed sixty-two tons of mineral coal —
employed twenty-six males, and thirteen females — amount of
capital invested, ten thousand three hundred and fifty dollars.
Five paper mills manufactured fifty-five ton weight of stock —
gross value of paper manufactured, fourteen thousand eight
hundred dollars — consumed twelve tons of mineral coal — em-
ployed ten hands — amount of capital invested, seven hundred
and fifty dollars. Oil mills, eight — manufactured fourteen thou-
sand and twenty gallons of oil — used seven thousand one hun-
dred bushels of flaxseed — gross value of oil made, ten thousand
one hundred and ten dollars — consumed ten tons of mineral
coal — employed ten hands — amount of capital invested, seven
thousand four hundred and forty dollars. Ten potteries — gross

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 269

value of ware made, four thousand two hundred dollars — emr
ployed twenty hands. Brick-yards, sixteen — number of bricks
made, three millions eight hundred and eighty-four thousand —
gross value, nine thousand five hundred dollars — number of
hands employed, ninety. Number of mulberry trees raised,
forty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty — eighteen pounds
cocoons produced — five males and three females employed —
amount of capital invested, one thousand dollars. One comb
manufactory — value of combs manufactured, one thousand dol-
lars— employed three hands — consumed three tons of mineral
coal. Three soap and candle factories, made one hundred and
thirty thousand pounds of candles — whole value of candles made,
fifteen thousand six hundred dollars — consumed twelve tons of
mineral coal — employed four hands — amount of capital invest-
ed, seven hundred dollars. Ten tobacco and snuft" factories,
twisted forty thousand pounds of tobacco, and made nineteen
millions eight hundred and ninety thousand segars — gross value
of tobacco manufactured, eighteen thousand three hundred and
thirty dollars — forty-seven hands employed — capital invested,
nine thousand one hundred dollars. Ropewalks, one — made
ten tons of rope — gross value, four hundred dollars, — employed
three hands. Whole number of shoemakers, not general man-
ufacturers, two hundred and seventy-two; tailors, one hundred
and eighty-five; weavers, seventy-four; hatters, ninety-l'ive ;
butchers, forty-two; watchmakers, eighteen; blacksmiths, one
hundred and ninety-four; whitesmiths, seven; carpenters, two
hundred and sixty; wheelwrights, seventy-seven ; printers, ten ;
I)ook-binders. one.

STATISTICS OF COMMERCE.

J^amher of iinporters of tobacco, om — gross value of tobac-
co imported, thirty-seven thousand dollars — amount of capital
invested, two thousand dollars. JS'umber of retailers of foreign
goods, ninety-three — gross amount of sales, tico hundred and
ninety-nine thousand two hundred dollars — employed one hun-
dred and forty-six hands — amount of capital invested, two
hundred and ten thousand four hundred dollars. JVu7nber of
retailers of domestic dry goods, fifty-eight — gross amount of

23*-

270 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

sales, one hundred and seventy thousand six hundred dollars — ■
numher of hands employed, one hundred and twelve — amount
of capital invested, eighty-three thousand nine hundied dollars.
Retail groceries, fifty-eight — gross amount of sales, one hun-
dred thousand three hundred dollars — employed ninety-five
hands — amount of capital invested, fifty-seven thousand nine
hundred dollars. Retailers of hardware, thirty-four — gross
amount of sales, one hundred and nineteen thousand two hun-
dred dollars — employed fifty-five hands — amount of capital
invested, seventy-four thousand four hundred and fifty dollars.
Retailers of foreign liquors, {not tavern-keepers^ thirty-nine —
gross amount of sales, sixty-one thousand one hundred dollars
— employed seventy-three hands — amount of capital investedy
twenty-four thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars. Re-
tailers of domestic spirits, thirty-three — gross amount of sales,
nineteen thousand one hundred dollars — hands employed, sixty-
three — amount of capital invested, seventeen thousand four hun-
dred and fifty dollars. Retail Drug Sr Chemical stores, twelve
— gross value of sales, eight thousand dollars — sixteen hands
employed — amount of capital invested, seven thousand four
hundred dollars. Taverns, one hundred and thirty-five — gross
amount of sales of liquors, forty-eight thousand five hundred
and fijty dollars — numler of hands employed, one hundred
and fifty-four. Flour and feed stores, eighteen — gross amount
of sales, ten thousand eight hundred dollars — numher of hands
employed twenty — amount of capital, ^6,970 GO— five lumber
yards — gross amount of sales, three hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars — employed eight hands — amount of capital
invested, twelve thousand one hundred dollars. Six coal yards —
gross amount of sales of anthracite coal, eight thousand five
hundred dollars — amount of capital invested, seven thousand
one hundred dollars.

STATISTICS OF MINING.

Seven iron ore banks in operation, rained twelve thousand
tons of ore — whole value of all the ore mined, nineteen
thousand seven hundred dollars — smelted ten thousand eight
hundred tons of ore in the county — sent out of the county one

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 271

thousand seven hundred tons — employed seventy-three hands
in mining — employed fifteen hands in transporting — amount of
capital invested, two hundred thousand dollars. Ninety lime-
stone quarries in 'operation, quarried twenty-two thousand nine
hundred perches of limestone — valued at fifteen thousand six
hundred dollars — employed one hundred and seventy hands.
Lime-kilns in operation, three hundred — burned six hundred and
sixty-five thousand bushels of lime, valued at eleven cents per
bushel — whole value, seventy-three thousand one hundred and
fifty dollars — employed seventy hands at kilns, and thirty in
transportation.

APPENDIX.

A. On page 191, in a foot note, the reader is referred to
Jlppendix A., touching a meeting held in 1829, in opposition
to Sunday Schools, &c. The proceedings of the meeting are
giren, with remarks by a Christian Freeman.

APPENDIX.

Meeting of Freemen in Heidelberg township^ Berks county.

At a numerous and respectable meeting of citizens assembled
at the house of George Gernand, on Thursday the 21st of May,
1829, pursuant to pubhc notice, given by the committee of cor-
respondence, appointed by the Committee in Cocalico township,
Lancaster county, on the 19th of March last, to deliberate and
consult upon the causes and tendency of the religious excite-
ment at present prevailing in the county ; Joseph Hain, Esq.,
was appointed President ; Henry Bennetsch and John Sohl, jr.,
and Daniel Wenrich, Secretaries; John Shitz, Jacob Seitzinger,
Henry Shoner, Martin Texter and John Hain (of Adam) being
appointed a committee to i-epcrt proceedings for the consideration
of the meeting ; after retiring for a short time, reported the fol-
lowing address and resolutions, which were imanimously
adopted :

The committee appointed to report proceedings for the con-
sideration of this meeting, respectfully submit the following :

That a religious excitement exists in many sections of the
country, not calculated, as they apprehend, to promote the in-
terests of genuine rational Piety, and tending eventually, if not
arrested in its progress, to abridge the civil and religious liber-
ties of the people. The cause of this excitement may be found
in the extraordinary conduct of certain ecclesiastical Professors,
who appear to have undertaken a crusade, for the spreading of
particular religious opinions, and the advancement of church

§76 HISTORY OF BE&KS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

establishments. Pervading the country in every direction, they
alarm the weak minded and youthful part of the community
with unusual and vehement denunciations of divine wrath, and
thus obtain an influence over minds which is not the result of
rational conviction, and which is destined to be directed to the
elevation of the clerical profession to a degree of authority in-
consistent with the people's welfare, and the spirit of the free
constitutions under which we live.

It appears to your committee that the Clergy of the United
States in general, have exhibited many manifestations of a
spirit of worldly ambition. That measures have been projected
by that class of men, calculated and designed to promote their
own interests at the expense of those of the people; to enable
them to dictate to the consciences of their fellow-men; and to
assume a right of interference in the direction of state affairs.
They have observed with dissatisfaction and alarm, the estab-
lishment of opulent and influential societies, the management of
which is committed to ecclesiastical hands or subjected to ec-
clesiastical control. Amongst these they number Bible and
Missionary Societies, Theological Seminaries and Sunday
School Unions. They regard these institutions as unnecessary
burdens upon the church going part of the community, appro-
priating vast sums of money to purposes for the most part un-
called for, and tending directly to increase the influence of the
clergy. They have witnessed the attempts recently made to
induce the Congress of the U. States, to prohbit the transpor-
tation of the mail on Sunday, and regard them as ebullitions
of the fanatical spirit, so widely disseminated by the Clergy. —
They consider all endeavors to procure legislative interference
in matters of religion, as attempts to infringe upon the rights
of conscience, and all measures adopted to compel particular
observance of the Sabbath as incipient approaches to the es-
tablishment of spiritual tyranny. Your committee would shrink
from proposing a single objection to the extension of the Chris-
tian Religion. They believe the revealed Religion of the old
and new Testaments to be the most inestimable gift of a beneficent
Creator to the human family. They regard it as a written law for
the guidance of human conduct, exhibiting a sublime and perfect
system of morals, and holding incentives to the pursuit of vir-
tue in those immortal rewards which Divinity alone could offer.
But in revolving the histories of bye-gone ages they are ad-

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBAtCON COUNTIES. 277

monisl'ied by the wails of nations, and the groans of oppressed
people, to beware of a body of men assuming to be the inter-
preters of the Divine word, and the Directors of men's con-
sciences. They contemplate with horror, the intolerance and
bloody persecutions of the church of Rome, and the debased
condition of the people in every nation where ecclesiastical ru-
lers have the sway. They look upon England, the most free
of European governments, and behold a Union of Church and
State, which has burdened the people for ages with an oppres-
sive hierarchy that maintains a luxurious Clergy with the hard-
worn earnings of the Agriculturalist and Mechanic. They
look forward with prophetic apprehensions to the termination
of the race, which fanaticism is running in our own country,
and behold in anticipation, misery and slavery, and ecclesiasti-
cal tyranny beyond the goal.

Your committee with a view to counteract the efforts which
are making to promote ecclesiastical supremacy, respectfully
submit the following resolutions for the consideration of the
meeting:

Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting, the institu-
tion of Bible and Missionary Societies, Theological Seminaries
and Sunday School Unions, are works of supererogation, con-
sidered in reference to the wants and v/elfare of the people;
ihat they are designed to elevate and sustain the authority of
the Priesthood, and so considered, are dangerous to the liber-
ties of the people, and that we will not assist in maintaining
Clergymen who advocate them or are concerned in their sup-
port.

Resolved, That we consider the extraordinary zeal for re-
ligion, which manifests itself in the condemnation of innocent
amusements and the requisition of an ascetic severity of life, as
originating in the false pretences of designing men, or the er-
roneous opinions of over-heated enthusiasm, believing as we do,
that hilarity in enjoying the bounties of Providence, is not un-
acceptable in the sight of the Almighty dispenser of all things.

Resolved, That our religious and moral duties are plainly
set forth in the language of the holy Scriptures; that they con-
sist in visiling the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
rendering due honor to parents and the exercises of charity to-
wards all men, and that no amount of mortification or prayer
can justify the omission of any of them.
24

278 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES^

Resolved, That we duly appreciate the advantages of tlpe
Sabbath, considered as a day of worship and temporal repose;
but that we cannot regard innocent recreations on that day, not
prohibited by the laws of the land^ as infractions of its duties or
those of rational piety.

Resolved, That hereafter we will receive no preacher into
our congregation who is an adherent or supporter of any The-
ological Seminary, of the Sunday School Union, or the Bible,
Missionary^ Tract or any other similar societies, or who is en-
gaged in distributing any so called religious papers or Maga-
zines, because we sincerely believe those institutions have been
introduced for no other purpose than to collect large sums of
money, which is to be applied towards erecting an influence
and power of the Clergy over the people, and consequently
may eventually lead to the destruction of our civil and religious
liberties.

Resolved, That it is our sincere opinion that all those per-
sons who so conspicuously disseminate prmciples so dangerous
in their consequences, are either hypocrites seeking their ow'n
aggrandizement^ or deluded fanatics, whose blindness seeks to
involve twelve millions of free and happy people between the
fano-s of an overreaching and ambitious priesthood. That our
Saviour came into the world to make men free and happy is an
undeniable truth ; but that priestcraft, under the garb of religion,
endeavors to enslave the world is also a fact seriously to be de-
plored.

Resolved, That we view those arrogant and haughty beg-
gars, who, in imported broad cloths, strut about our country,
distributing tracts and asking money for Missionary purposes,
as a set of imposters, too lazy to earn, by the sweat of their
brow, the food that sustains them.

Resolved, That we are, as we have been ever, ready to re-
ward upright and unassuming ministers for their services, and
to render their stay among us as agreeable as circumstances
will allow; with this proviso, however, that they remain free
and independent from all connexion with those societies, whose
ostensible object may seem laudable, but whose intentions are
the promotion of themselves and the slavery of the people. —
Should, however, no such preacher be found, we will neverthe-
less frequent the house of God and appoint one of the number
present to read an appropriate sermon, a chapter from Holjr

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 279

writ, and conclude by prayer and hymns of thankfulness to the
supreme creator of all his mercies.

Resolved, That we approve of the proceedings of the meet-
ing held on the 19th of March last, in Cocalico township, Lan-
caster county, and that we will endeavor our utmost to aid in
fulfilling them.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by
the officers of the day, and jDublished in all the papers friendly
to the cause of the people.

JOSEPH HAIN, President.
Henry Bennetsch, ) ^j. t, ■ -, ,
JoH.v Gerhart, j ^^^^ Presidents,

John Sohl, Jr. ) c, j. •
r\ i^r [ secretaries.

Daniel VV enrich, j

REMARKS BY A CHRISTIAN FREEMAN.

Believing that the cause of the Redeeemer is best promoted,
when its friends are apprised of the evil as well as of the good,
which attends it, and have it in their power to know the
strength of its enemy, the weapons he employs, and the nature
of the conflict which it is their duty to maintain, I request the
insertion in the Magazine of the accompanying report and
resolutions adopted by a meeting held in Berks countv, in this
State. This production can aflbrd neither pleasure nor edifi-
cation to your readers; but they can learn from it how much of
heathenism is yet to be purged away in our own country and
our own church ; and how much they ought to do.

The persons who composed this meeting are, at least princi-
pally, Germans, and a portion of them are members of the Re-
formed Church. I mention these facts with deeper shame and
regret: — they are a blot upon our character and will fill a dark
page in our history. I would say, '•' Tell it not in Gath ; pub-
lish it not in the streets of Ashkelon," but the authors have al-
ready proclaimed their own reproach by publishing it in all the
papers which would insert their strange production.

These men profess to regard the Christian religion as " the
most inestimable gift of a beneficent Creator to the human fami-
ly," and " to shrink from proposing a single objection to the ex-

280 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

tension of it." They may possibly be sincere : but it is too
manifest that they neither possess the spirit of Christianity, nor
know what it is, and that their resohitions strike wath the most
reckless violence at all the means of promoting or extending it.
The religious institutions which are the glory of the present age,
and whose effects in promoting the knowledge and the influence
of Christianity, have been already so important, are pursued
Avith a rancorous and deadly hostility, as dangerous to the lib-
erties of the people; their friends and supporters are character-
ized as "hypocrites who seek their own aggrandizement, or de-.
luded fanatics;" and the clergy who promote them, are de-
nounced as an "over-reaching and ambitious priesthood."

In this virulent opposition, these people have been preceded
by the Pope of Rome, and the Patriarch of the Popish Maro-
nite Christians in Asia, who have fulminated their anathemas
against Bible Societies and Bible-men, denouncing them as pests
and instruments of the devil, calculated to undermine their
"holy faith." The Turkish Sultan, if I remember right, has
also issued his firman prohibiting the distribution of the Bible,
and of other Christian books in his dominions, by Protestant
Missionaries. And there can be no doubt that Satan regards
them with no kinder thoughts, and is doing what he can to
drive them out of his kingdom.

It is easy to perceive why the Pope and his adherents should
be opposed to the religious institutions of Protestants, and par-
ticularly to Bible Societies; since it is manifest, that if the
Bible, without note or comment, be every where circulated and
read, nothing can be more dangerous to the superstitions and
the priestly tyranny of that church : and accordingly it has been
the constant pohcy of the Popish Hierarchy to shut up the
Bible from the people.

Nor is it difficult to comprehend why the Turkish Sultan
should be opposed to the distribution of the Bible and of reli-
gious tracts. He and his people are Mahomedans: their sacred
book is the Koran: and he knows that, if the Bible and Chris-
tian tracts be circulated and read in his dominions, his religion
must fall before them ; or, at best, it cannot be benefitted by
them.

It is equally as easy to discover why the Prince of Darkness
should hate Bible Societies, whose object is to distribute the
Word of Eternal Life ; and Tract societies, which endeavor to

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES, 281

spread Christian knowledge and piety by distributing those
tracts which are so well adapted to inform the understanding
and to improve the heart ; and Sunday schools, whose aim is to
store the mind at an early period of life, with the principles of
Christianity; and the Missionary Societies, whose design is to
propagate the rehgion of Christ among all nations, and to
gather souls from the four winds into his kingdom ; and Tlu-'O-
logical Seminaries, in which ministers of the Gospel are suita-
bly prepared for their holy office ; and Evangelical Religious
Periodicals, by which knowledge is increased, zeal awakened,
and piety promoted. He well knows that all these are der
str active to his power, and that if they are permitted to exert
their energies in peace, his kingdom cannot prosper.

But it is impossible to explain why Christians, who declare
that they "would shrink from proposing a single objection to
the extension of the Christian religion," why Protestant Chris-
tians, why members of the Reformed and the Lutheran churches,
should join in the same hostility and unite in the same warfare,
against these things. What has the Protestant Christian to
fear from them, that he should join with such associates in such
a crusade?

A reason for this conduct is assigned in the first resolve, viz:
that these institutions "are designed to elevate and sustam the
authority of the Priesthood, and so considered, are dangerous
to the liberties of the people."

Is it not difficult to comprehend what these Christiajis and
Patriots mean by the sneering term priesthood : they apply it to
those ministers- of religion, in the Protestant Christian Church,
who foster the benevolent institutions which they abhor. It is
well known that the ministers of the Protestant Churches are
no Priesthood in the literal sense of the term ; as they do not
pretend, in that sense, to offer up sacrifices of any sort. The
ministry of the Church of Rome assert that, the mass is liter-
ally a sacrifice which they offer to God ; and they claim for
that reason to be a Priesthood. Protestant ministers maintain
that Jesus Christ is the only priest, and his death upon the
cross the only sacrifice of his church. They, therefore, dis-
claim the office of priests, and profess to be only pastors and
teachers. This fact, I presume the Committee wdio reported
these resolutions, knew; but the term Priesthood presented so
inviting an opportunity to confound Protestant ministers with.

24*

282 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Popish priests, and to involve them all in a common odim,
that they could not forbear to use it. There is some malignity
in this conduct, and a pleasure is evidently felt in the indul-
gence of it.

It is not so easy to understand what they mean by the au-
thority of the Priesthood, which our benevolent institutions
"are designed to elevate and sustain." In the United States,
ministers of all denominations possess no other than purely
spiritual authority : they are officers of a kingdom which is not
of this world : as such, they are authorized to teach and pro-
pagate the religion of Christ, to administer his sacraments, and
to exercise the discipline which is necessary for the purity and
the edification of his church. This authority they have from
God who gave some Apostles and some Prophets, and some
Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the w^ork of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ; and commanded them to teach all nations,
to preach his gospel to every creature, to seek first his king-
dom and its righteousness, and to labor as well as to pray that
his name may be hallowed, that his kingdom may come, and
that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven,* (i. e., in
all places, by all, and with delight.) This authority can neither
be "elevated" nor depressed, neither "sustained" nor over-
thrown, by any thing which men can do. But the benevolent
institutions, which the zealous disciples and friends of Jesus es-
tablish, bring together a great store of means, and a powerful
co-operation of fellow christians, to enable ministers of the gos-
pel more effectually to execute their Lord's commands. If this
be what is meant by "elevating and sustaining the authority of
the Priesthood," I should like to be informed what harm it can
possibly do to the liberties or the happiness of man; or how Je-
sus Christ himself can escape the reproaches of those who can
see nothing but danger, harm and wickedness in it.

If Christian ministers were aiming at temporal power, I can-
not conceive how the institutions which they cherish could pos-
sibly subserve their design. The learned and candid authors of
the report refer us to the "history of by-gone ages" for proof
of the danger to be apprehended from "a body of men, assum-
ing to be the intepreters of the divine word, and the directors

* Ephes. 4, 11, 12. Math. 28, 19, 20. Mark 16, 15. Math. 5, 33.—
Math. 6, 9, 10.

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 283

of men's consciences;" but they have not informed us by what
means those wicked men established their tyranny and intro-
duced so much corruption and misery into Christendom. Was
it by supplying every destitute family with a copy of the Bible
in the vulgar tongue? by distributing tracts in which the doc-
trines of the Bible were stated and explained? by establishing
Sunday Schools in which children, and especially the pooj,
were taught to read, and were instructed in the Holy Scrip-
tures? by publishing periodicals in which Christian doctrines
and duties were freely discussed and illustrated? or by preach-
ing repentance, faith in Christ, and holiness of life, and de-
nouncing the wrath of God against impenitent and wicked men?
By such means, the *' Piiesthood" might indeed have enlight-
ened and improved their flocks, and made them happy, both in
this world and in the next; but they could not possibly have
established a priestly tyranny in the church. The people
would have known what Christianity is: they would have un-
derstood both their rights and their duties; they would have
discerned the nature and design of the Christian ministry, and
would have been in a condition to judge the claims and the
conduct of their spiritual guides by the unerring rule of the
Holy Scriptures. An iniquitous spiritual domination can sub-
sist only where the people are very ignorant and superstitious.
This the "ambitious Priesthood" of " by-gone ages" were sa-
gacious enough to perceive, and they accordingly took the
measures to introduce a sottish ignorance and superslition into
the church. The Bible was taken away and shut up as a dan-
gerous book; permission to read it could be obtained only as a
special favor by a very few in whom the Priesthood confided ;
and the people w^ere told that they must learn the w^ill of God
from the lips of the priest only, and receive his statements as
the oiacles of truth. The sermons which the people heard and
the books which they were permitted to read, if they cOuld
read at all, were filled with the senseless legends of pretended
saints, and extravagant commendations of the pope, the saints,
images, relics, pilgrimages, prayers and masses for the dead,
&c., &c. It was denounced as an insolent impiety, if proof
was demanded for the truth of any of these things. A con-
tented ignorance and implicit faith in the infallibility of the
church was, with them, the very summit of Christian excellen-
cy. It was not even necessary that a Christian should know

284 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

what the church beheved. It was sufficient if he admitted
that, Avhatever it be, it must be true. An "overreaching and
ambitious priesthood" claimed to be the interpreters of the
word of God, and the directors of men's consciences. Putting
themselves in the place of the Bible, they shut out the light
from every other source of information, and demanded that
their decisions should be received as the rule of men's faith and
practice: and having thus got men's consciences into their pow-
er, they filled their minds with superstitious trumperies, instead
of healthful truth. It was in this manner that their wicked
dominion was established. How long would their tyranny
have lasted, if the priesthood of that age had changed their
system, and adopted the measures which the enlightened meet-
ing in Heidelberg so much reprobate in the Protestant clergy
of the present age? It w^ould have disappeared in a very little
time. The Reformers attacked, and in part demolished it, by
preaching the same doctrine which is now preached ; by trans-
lating the bible into the vulgar tongue, and circulating it as
much as possible; by publishing great numbers of religious
books and tracts; by establishing primary schools for the in-
struction of youth, and seminaries of learning which were espe-
cially designed to prepare young men for the ministry of the
Gospel ; by catechising the children on Sundays, and compiling
catechisms and other suitable books for their use; and, in short,
by a system of measures the same in its nature and tendency,
though somewhat different in its form, from that which is now
pursued. If this system had been permitted to operate univer-
sally, not a vestige of the priestly tyranny of Rome would have
remained. The Hierarchy could maintain their ground, as far
as they kept it, only by setting bounds to these operations, and
extinguishing, as far as possible, the light which the Reformers
had kindled ; and they effected this by fire and sword, by dun-
geons and racks, by the terrors of the Inquisition, and by calum-
nies which were designed, like those of the good men of Hei-
delberg, to ruin the fair fame and destroy the influence of the
men whom they opposed. Wherever this system can now
operate in popish countries, it either destroys popery, or re^
forms it and bring it near in its spirit to protestantism. The
pious and liberal portion of the Romish priesthood are its
"warm friends and supporters. There are in that communion
such men as Leander Van Ess. Rut the other part, who are

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 285

intent only on the maintenance of their own po^ver and emolu-
ment, treat it, as it was treated in the days of the Reformation,
with anathemas, calumnies, and persecutions; and join very cor-
dially in the sentiments and language of the meeting in Heidel-
berg.

If by the "elevating and sustaining of the authority of the
Priesthood," these men, who have so much respect for the
Christian religion, and for the office of the Christian ministry
as an appointment of Jesus Christ, mean that the various in-
stitutions and religious operations, which they oppose, will in-
crease the influence of clergymen, I freely admit the fact to a
certain extent. They will enlighten the public mind on the
subject of religion, spread the influence of pure Christianity,
improve public and private virtue, withdraw the aifections
from earth to heaven, light up the hope of immortality, and
open the fountains of divine consolation. In accomphshing
this, they will place in a stronger light the excellency of true
religion and the value of an intelligent and devoted ministry,
and will consequently procure for those clergymen, who are
men of the right character, a larger measure of confidence, re-
spect, and love, and a more extensive influence than they would
otherwise have enjoyed; but they will not increase the influence
of a man in whom an enlightened and virtuous community can
discern iio just claims to their esteem. He will succeed only
among the ignorant and ungodly, who are like himself as he is
like them. He might be popular with the corrupt party in the
church of Rome; or figure at a meeting where Rible Societies,
Sunday Schools, &c., are reprobated and denounced. He may
raise himself to consequence and power where the people love
darkness rather than light, and are not likely to discover his
unfitness for the sacred office. But he must be a man of real
merit, who can sustain himself in a community where there is
much intelligence, much piety, and much devotedness to the
Redeemer's cause; and his influence in it will be only in the
proportion in which he deserves to be esteemed. It is the in-
terest of preachers of low grovelling minds and little worth, to
discourage every thing, by which the community may be en-
lightened and improved, and a higher standard of fitness for the
gospel ministry is raised ; or which may oblige them to more
activity and self denial. Such men will not be the originators
of Bible Societies, Sunday Schools, Theological Seminaries,

286 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

&c. ; nor will they ever give them a cordial support, when
others have originated them. If the meeting at Heidelberg-
choose to select their preachers from this class, I beg leave to
refer them to Paul's affecting charge to Timothy. —
2 Tim., 4, 1—4.

I am unable to comprehend how the influence which the
Clergy may gain by the measures they have adopted and the
objects they are pursuing, can possibly be dangerous to the
liberties of the people. If their influence be in proportion to
the confidence reposed in them by an enlightened and virtuous
community ; if it be acquired by spreading christian knowledge
and virtue, and by making themselves more useful and worthy
of esteem; it can be dangerous to nothing but vulgarity, ignorr
ance and vice. If by liberty the Heidelberg patriots mean li-
centiousness, the whole matter is very clear: that sort of liber-
ty is in much danger from such an influence; but if they mean
by it the unrestrained enjoyment of the rights which God has
given us, it is a thing which can only be safe where men are
intelligent and truly virtuous. Nothing can be more conge-
nial io it than the influence of a body of clergy whom such
a people honor with their confidence. Nothing, on the con-
trary, can be more pernicious to it than the principles of those
who are at open war with Bible Societies, Missionary Socie-
ties, Sunday Schools, Theological Seminaries, &c.

The Heidelberg meeting ought to have known that the cler-
gy are not exclusively the authors and promoters of these in-
stitutions. They have been originated, supported, and promo-
ted by associations of the zealous friends of the christian reli-
gion, consisting of persons of both sexes and of every condition
in life, of whom the clergy form but a very small part. They
are not confined to any one denomination of Christians, nor to
any one country, but are found in all Christendom, where any
religious liberty exists. Among their supporters are a very
large portion of the most intelligent, virtuous and patriotic citi-
zens of every country ; whose opinions upon political questions
and upon other points of religion are, in many instances, as op-
posite as the Poles, and who would be induced to unite in no
other common object than that of propagating the religion of
Jesus Christ, and thereby promoting the Happiness of mankind.
Many of these refuse to unite with general associations, prefer-
ring societies composed exclusively of members of their o\vn re*

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 2S7

iigious denominations, and designed to propagate their own pe-
culiar mode of faith and worship; because that alone appears
to them entirely scriptural ; but the main design is still the same,
namely to spread the religion of Christ.

Can it be imagined, without absurdity, that all these indi-
viduals have conspired to raise "a corrupt Priesthood" over
their own heads and to make themselves and their fellow chris-
tians slaves? Do they contribute their money, their talents
and their time to destroy the precious boon of religious liberty,
for which so many myriads of Protestants, whose memory
they cherish with the warmest affection, sullered the loss of
all things, and so much christian blood was shed ; or are they
ignorant of the design and tendency of their religious operations,
the dupes of a crafty and wicked priesthood, and do they need
to have their eyes opened by the more enlightened meeting at
Heidelberg? So this singular publication w^ouldhave us to be-
lieve !

But, it is urged, that these religious institutions are "com-
mitted to ecclesiastical hands, or subjected to ecclesiastical
control." The ignorant reader would infer from these words
that the entire management of them is exclusively in the hands
of clergymen. But this surely is not the truth. The business
of every religious association is transacted by a Board of Mana-
gers, elected by the associaton, of whom a part only are cler-
gymen. The reason why clergymen are ajipointed is a very
plain one. The confidence they usually enjoy, the nature of
their office as ministers of religion, and their disengagedness
from the distractions of worldly business, are supposed to fit
them best for management of a religious or charitable institu-
tion; but it is the moral and religious transactions only that re-
ceive their attention: as Treasurers whose duty it is to man-
age the pecuniary concerns of the institution, laymen are almost
universally appointed. A report of their proceedings, together
with a statement of the receipts and expenditures, is laid before
the Society at its anniversary meeting, and is afterwards pub-
lished for the information of the pubhc. If the members of the
Heidelberg meeting had read the religious periodical, instead
of proscribing them, they would have obtained some know-
ledge of the subject which they have undertaken to expose ;
and they would then have seen that the dangers, which have
so much alarmed them, are like those that frighten children, and

2S8 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNtlfiS.

that they might very safely dismiss their fears and remain at
home in peace.

The officers of rehgious Societies receive no compensation
for their services, except in those few instances where the du-
ties of the office require so much attention, that they require
the whole or a very large portion of the officer's time, and
make it necessary that a suitable provision be made for his
support. This is the case of the treasurers, secretaries, and
general agents of some societies, whose business is very exten-
sive. All others contribute their services gratuitously, and in
addition to these contribute their money also.

It is therefore no temporal advantage to clergymen, if they
are appointed to the management of religious and charitable
institutions. On the contrary, it is very often a disadvantage;
and sometimes a pretty serious one too. Because religion and
charity are considered more properly their concern, more is ex-
pected from them than from other officers^ and they are obhged,
for that reason, more frequently to attend meethigs and to take
an active part in trr'.nsacting their business. A single clergy-
man in one of our cities spends more time, labour and money,
in the cause of humanity, without receiving any earthly com-
pensation for it, than, perhaps, the whole meeting at Heidel-
berg, officers and all, have ever devoted to that object. On
this account selfish, covetous and narrow-minded clergymen,
usually avoid all connexion with these institutions, and still
more with the management of them; or, if they cannot lor
shame avoid it, are very heartless and negligent in it.

This report produces not a single argument or fact to show
that these institutions have been abused, or that their tendency
is dangerous, or that their authors and promoters • are corrupt
and plotting men. All this is insinuated again and again, with
sufficient boldness; and it is abundantly evident that, if proof
were at hand, it would be triumphantly exhibited ; but these
righteous judges content themselves with merely resting such
heavy charges upon opinions- for entertaining which they assign
no reason: "We regard," "We consider," "It is our sincere
opinion," &c., &c. This it seems must suffice. The public
must believe them, because they think so: and upon this ground
all the friends of religious and charitable institutions, who en-
deavor by such means to diffuse the religion of the Bible, are
denounced as " hypocrites seeking their own aggrandizement,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANOIC COUNTIES. 289

or deluded fanatics, whose blindness seeks to involve twelve
millions of free and happy people between the fangs of an over-
reachino- and ambitious priesthood," and ministers of Christ,
who cannot conscientiously abandon these institutions, are to
be driven from their pulpits and churches, and turned out upon
the world together with their families, without bread or shel-
ter I !I Here are patriotism and Christianity with a vengeance.
If this be not the spirit of popery in its worst form, I have yet
to learn what that spirit is. O shame upon such professors of
religion — such members of a Protestant church!

There is a good reason to baUere that the master spirits,
both at this meeting, and at the former one in Lancaster coun-
ty, were some intriguing infidels; some wolves in sheep's cloth-
ing. Of these our country has enough; and that section of it
is not without them. By these an ill informed and credulous
body of men are wrought into a phrenzy of passions by repre-
sentations that their liberties are in danger. I have been in-
formed, by good authority, that the author of the report and
resolutions adopted by the meeting in Lancaster county, is the
editor of an irreligious publication called the German Reformer.
This second production, contains abundant internal evidence of
a similar authorship. How much of it the meeting at Heidel-
bern understood, I know not. I bsliere that what they have
done was done in their ignorance, and I am disposed to pray in
their behalf, "Father, forgive them for they know not what
they do." I have the satisfaction to know that no clergymen
in connexion with our Synod had any connexion with this un-
worthy transaction. — Mag. Ger. Reformed Church.

25

ADDENDA

Every effort made to ameliorate the condition of man or to
alleviate his pains and sufferings, should claim the attention of
the philanthropist. To bring to notice, and preserve to future
days, an effort of the kind, the following has been introduced :

MEDICAL FACULTY OF BERKS COUNTY.

The practising physicians of this county, having associated
and become a body politic in law, under the above style and
title, met agreeably to public notice, on Saturday evening, the
7th of August, 1824, at the public building of this borough, and
duly organized their institution.

Doct. Isaac Hiester was called to the Chair, and Doct.
Charles Baum appointed Secretary.

The charter and by-laws having been read, the following
gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year,
Isaac Hiester, M. D,, President.
C. L. Schlemm, M. D. { y. p^,,,.^,^^_,
John B, Otto, M. D. \ ^^'^ rresiaents.
Charles Baum, M. D., Recording Secretary.
iLLl^yZ^^l I Corresfns.Seerys.
George Eckert, M. D., Treasurer.
Dr. Bernard M'Neil, \ p..^^^
Dr. Gerh. G. Bishop, \ ^^'^«^^^'^-

The President delivered a short address to the association^
and then proceeded agreeably to the by-laws to appoint a stand-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 291

jng committee of three members for the examination of candi-
dates for the grade of junior membership. The following gen-
tlemen compose the committe, C. L. Schlemm, M. D., John B,
Otto, M. D., and Charles Eaum, M. D.

The following resolutions were then offered, discussed and
adopted.

Resolved, That the members of the Medical Faculty be re-
quested to furnish monthly to the corresponding secretaries, a
list of the diseases and deaths that may occur in their respec-
tive neighborhoods, and an account of the general health of
the county, together with such remarks as they may deem pro-
per for publication.

Resolved, That it is expedient to apprize the public of the
existence of small pox in this borough, and that inaFmuch as
this body retains undiminished confidence in vaccination, this
mild and safe preventative be strongly reccmmended in all cases
deemed liable to the infection of that loathsome and too often
fatal disease.

Resolved, That the students in medicine of Berks county
have permission to attend the meetings and deliberations of this
body.

Resolved, That one hundred copies of the constitution and
by-laws of the medical faculty of Berks county, be printed in
pamphlet form, under the superintendence of a committee con-
sisting of Drs. Otto, Baum and Bishop, and that the proceed-
ings of this evening, together with the inaugural address of the
president, be published in the several papers of this borough,
signed by the President and attested by the Secretary.

On motion. Resolved, That the President deliver an oration
in public as soon as may be convenient, in the name and on
behalf of this faculty.

The faculty adjourned to the next stated meeting on the first
Saturday in October next, at 7 o'clock, P. M.

Charles Baum, Recording Secretary.

ADDRESS.

Gentlemen of the Medical Faculty: — My warmest acknow-
ledgments are due to you for honoring me, by an unanimous

292 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

vote, with the first office of your society ; and the best pledge
I can offer of my future zeal for its prosperity, is the interest I
have already taken in its establishment.

Now that our institution, (which is the first of the kind in
Pennsylvania, except the college of physicians and medical so-
ciety of Philadelphia,) is organized, permit me to remark that,
we commence our operations under auspices solemn and impres-
sive. We have not, like those of most other associations, chosen
to form ourselves into a self constituted body, liable to be dis-
solved by every adverse breeze; but have boldly demanded the
sanction of the proper authorities, and we found our existence
on the permanent basis of an act of incorporation.

The invitation we have thus virtually given to the profes-
sion elsewhere, and to the public generally, to mark our origin
and observe our progress, imposes upon us new and weighty
obligations, in addition to those ordinarily incumbent on the
practising physician. Carefully to observe diseases, diligently
to watch their immense variety of symptoms, and faithfully to
charge the memory with the effects of remedies, as guides in
future practice, are duties indispensable to every practitioner
who aims at individual excellence: But associated as we now
are, for the avowed as well as substantial purpose of improving
medical knowledge in this part of the country, and thereby en-
larging our usefulness to the community, more will justly be
expected from us in our collective capacity. " I hold," says
Lord Bacon, " every man a debtor to his profession ; from which
as men of course do seek countenance and profit, so ought they
of duty to endeavor themselves, by way of amends, to be a
help and an ornament thereunto." The imperfect state of the
medical profession in common wnth all others, its dependence
mainly, for improvement on an accumulation of practical facts,
and above all its inunense importance to mankind, renders it pe-
culiarly incumbent on its members, wherever they may be loca-
ted, to contribute their aid to its advancement. Dispersed,
however, as we are, in different parts of the country, and con-
lined to oar respective circles of practice by a pursuit at once
arduous and painful, we have little leisure, and perhaps less in-
clination to commit to paper, for the inspection of others, the
results of our individual experience and observation. Insulated
with regard to our professional brethren, the only competent
judges of our merit, and accustomed to the indiscriminate

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 293

praises of our patients, we are in continual danger of mistaking
the reputation we enjoy for actual superiority of skill; while we
daily drop in the rear of our contemporaries by neglecting to
cultivate those vast accessions of knowledge to our science that
so pre-eminently distinguish the age in which we live. —
Without the advantage of a frequent exchange, and comparison
of knowledge with our jarethren in practice, we are inclined to
listen to the suggestions of vanity, and imagine ourselves stand-
ards of perfection, while we glide into a dull routine of prac-
tice exclusively founded on our own limited experience. The
solemn obligation of every practitionei-j to bring to the bed-
side of his patient the most enlightened vicAvs of disease, and
the best curative means, afforded by the present state of the
healing art, is forgotten, and there is a disposition in cases of
failure, to seek refuge from the reproaches of an offended con-
sciences in the miserable reflection that "we have done our duty
to the best of our knowledge." An unlimited sanction is thus
given to indolence or ignorance, as the case may be ; while the
high responsibilities, and real dignity of the profession in re-
lieving the sufferings of our fellow creatures, and preserving
human life, are lost in their subserviency to a sordid subsistence,
and prostituted to purposes purely mercenary. Deprived of
professional intercourse, and little inclined to invigorate the
judgment by study and reflection, our intellects tend to assimi-
late with those of our associates as certainly as heat tends to
an equilibrium; and such, moreover, is the disposition of the
human mind to collapse, that without the application of power-
ful incentives, the mere practising physician is especially liable
to deteriorate rather than improve. Other professions would
seem to have the advantage of being better comprehended by
the mass of mankind, than that of medicine. Law and theolo-
gy, although abstract sciences in their extended ramifications,
are nevertheless founded in the constitution of human nature. —
As every one has a sense of Deity, which is the origin of the
one, so every individuai has a sense of right and wrong, which
is the 5«5-structure of the other science ; but where is the man
who without much study, and a knowledge especially of anato-
my, and the laws of the animal economy, can clearly compre-?
hend a sino-le disease? While the lawyer therefore, or the
divine, may be said to meet with a professional companion in
some measure, in every one with whom he is disposed to con-?

25*

294 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Terse, the physician alone feels himself a stranger in thought,
in language, and in action. Whatever may be his stock of
knowledge when he begins his career in practice, he soon dis-
corers, if he was not before aware, that he has been taught a
science and a language not intelligible to any one out of his
profession. To avoid the imputation of pedantry, he retreats
within himself, and is in danger of losing not only the principles
but even the very nomenclature of his science. To counteract
such tendency by creating a spirit of generous emulation, to
elevate the profession by exciting a thirst for general know-
ledge, and to cultivate a taste for observation and inquiry by
combining the efforts and skill of physicians in various parts of
the country, are surely objects worthy of our institution.
ISAAC HIESTER, M. D., President.
Attest : Charles Baum, Secretary.

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE HIESTER FAMILY.

The name of Hiester is so extensively connected with the
general and State governments, that a brief sketch of the family
may not be uninteresting. Their remote ancestors were of Si-
lesian origin. From that country they were distributed
throughout Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Switzerland, and the
jCGuntries bordering on the river Rhine. The immediate ances-
tors of the present race of that name in this country, emigrated
from Witzenstein, in Westphalia, and arrived in America in the
early part of the 18th century. They consisted of three bro^
thers, Daniel, John, and Joseph, who all took up their resi-
dence in the first place at Goshen-hoppen, then in Philadelphia,
now in Montgomery county. Here Daniel at once purchased
a farm which was somewhat improved. After exploring and
becoming better acquainted with the country, they united in
purchasing from the Proprietary government, between two and
three thousand acres of land in Bern township, now Berk?
county. Here John and Joseph settled, while Daniel remained
at the old homestead. Having thus, with the characteristic
prudence of those primitive days, first secured the means of
supporting families, they next, in due time, formed matrimo-
nial alliances with American women, and "set themselves down,
each under his own vine and fig tree," to enjoy, in the pursuit
of Agriculture, the fruits of their virtuous enterprize.

As they had been induced to leave their own native country
by the vassalage of an oppressive government, which exacted,

296 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

not only onerous taxes, but also a portion of the time and labor
of its subjects, they naturally cherished in the minds of their
deseendants, a lofty spirit of freedom. Accordingly, when the
revolutionary war broke out, they were among the first to en-
roll themselves in the list of "Associaters." The efficient ser-
vices of this class of citizen soldiers, which were organized by
electing two Brigadier Generals at Lancaster on the 4th of Ju-
ly, 1776, afterwards rendered in the campaigns of N. Jersey,
N. York, Delaware, and the lower parts of Pennsylvania, is a
well known matter of history. Daniel, of Montgomery, John,
of Chester, and Gabriel, of Berks, the three eldest sons of
Daniel, entered the service as field officers, the two former with
the rank of Colonel, and the latter with that of Major. Wil-
liam, the fourth and youngest son of Daniel, although also en-
rolled, did not, on account of his extreme youth and the infir-
mity of his aged parents, serve more than one campaign. Jo-
seph Hiester, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania, the only
son of John, entered the service as a captain in the " Flying
Camp," and having been made a prisoner at the battle of Long
Island, and confined on board the notorious Jersey Prison Ship,
New Jersey, he was, after his exchange, promoted 1 o the rank
of Colonel. After the war, he and his two cousins, Daniel and
John, were elected to the rank of Majors General of the militia
in their respective districts. The popularity these men gained
by their devotion to country, and the pubhc spirit during the
eventful struggles of the revolutionary war, never forsook
them. After the conclusion of peace, they all enjoyed, by the
suffrages of the people, a large share in the councils of the State,
and general Government. General Daniel Hiester was the first
representative in Congress, under the present constitution, from
Berks county, of which he had in the meantime become a citi-;
zen. In 1796 he removed to Maryland, where he was again
repeatedly elected to the same office, from the districts com-
posed of Washington, Frederick and Allegheny counties, until
the time of his decease, which occurred at Washington city, in
the Session of 1801 — 2. Joseph Hiester was elected a mem-
ber of the convention which met in Philadelphia, in November,
1787, to consider and ratify, or reject the present constitution
of the United States; and in 1789, he was a member of the
convention which formed the second constitution of this State.
Under that constitution, he and Gabriel Hiester, who had also

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 297

been a member of the convention which formed the first State
constitution, were repeatedly elected to the legislature, the lat-
ter continuing either in the Senate or House of Representatives,
uninterruptedly, for nearly thirty years. General Joseph Hies-
ter, after the removal of Daniel to Maryland, represented his
district, composed in part of Berks county, in Congress, and
about the same time General John Hiester, was also chosen a
member of the same body from Chester county. Both 'were
re-elected for a series of years — the former, until he resigned in
1820, when he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania, and the
latter until he declined a re-election, and retired to private
life.*

* See pages 175 to ISO, antea.

HI ST ORY

LEBANON COUNTY.

CHAP TEH I.

LEBANON COUNTY ERECTED.

It hasbeenshown, in a preceding page, (117,) that Philadelphia,
Bucks and Chester counties were estabhshed in 1682; Lancas-
terjn 1729; York in 1749; Cumberland in 1750; Berks in
1752; which, prior to that time, was a part of Lancaster coun-
ty, as well as Lebanon ; and afterwards, till 1785, when Dau-
phin county was separated from Lancaster, embracing the whole
of Dauphin and Lebanon counties, till then.

Lebanon county was formed from parts of the counties of
Dauphin and Lancaster, by an act of Assembly, passed Febru-
ary 16, 1813. Its present limits are as follows :

It is bounded on the north-east by Berks and Schuylkill
counties, on the south-east by Lancaster, on the south-west and
north-\vest by Dauphin; length and breadth, seventeen miles-
containing two hundred and eighty-eight square miles— being
a little more than one-fourth the superficial area of Berks county.

Though Lebanon is small, yet it is one of the finest counties
in the Stale of Pennsylvania. It forms a part of the great
transition formation, lying chiefly between the south mountain
and the Kittatiny range. "It is distinguished for the fertility
of its soil, and the value of its agricultural productions. The
26

1302 historV of berks a^td Lebanon counties.

limestone land is generally considered the best ; but in the cal-
'careus portions of the slate formation, there are many excel-
lent and highly productive farms."*

The greater proportion of the original settlers of this part of
Pennsylvania, was German, except the western and north-wes-
tern part of Lebanon county, Londonderry township, which
was originally settled by Scotch and Irish, whose descendantSj
however, have nearly all disappeared, and given place to the
present industrious, frugal and thrifty German population.

The history of the early settlements and Indian raassacreSy
is so completely merged with the history of Berks, that Uttle
of interest, separately considered, remains to be noticed. Be-
sides, but little has been preserved, by record or tradition, of
the early history of the portion embraced within the present
limits of Lebanon county. What has been preserved, and what
has been gleaned, is, however, of an authentic character. The
best sources have been resorted to.

In the history, as well as the topographical description of the
townships of this country, Lebanon township being among the
first settled and organized, claims precedence.

LEBANON TOWNSHIP.

Lebanon township was, till 1739, a large township, when iii
May of that year, the Court of Lancaster, ordered that Bethel
township be erected, which was then bounded as follows: —
"That the division line begin at Swatara creek, at a stony
ridge, about half a mile below John Tittle's, and continuing
along the said ridge easterly to Tolpehocken township, to the
northward of Tobias Pickels, so as to leave John Benaugle,
Adam Steel, Thomas Ewersly and Mathias Tise, to the south-
ard of the said line ; that the northernmost division be named,
and called Bethel — the southern division continue the name
Lebanon. When Berks county was erected the greater part
of Bethel was included by and separated with that county.

Lebanon township was first settled by Germans; many of
whose descendants are still the owners of their ancestors'

* C. B. Trego's Geog; of Pa., p. 274.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 303

first warranted lands. The first settlers of the county were
some families of the Tulpehocken settlements, in the western part
of it — now within the eastern limits of Lebanon. These have
been noticed before.

The rude huts, erected and occupied by these and others of
the first settlers, have long since peiished, and in their stead,
others were erected, and these in their turn are superseded by
others of more durable materials, and more commodious. Where
the scrub oaks stood thick, there are now highly improved
farms, fertile fields, and smiling gardens. The persevering ef-
forts of the husbandman are richly crowned.

The first settlers, for the want of better ones, had to help
themselves, as well as they could, with simple and rude uten-
sils, furniture and fixtures, both culinary and agricultural ; their
accommodations and comforts were agrestical. Wide contrast
— instead of puncheon floors, carpets deck smooth plained
ones.

One instance — hundreds might be given — of the first settlers
in this township will be noticed. The writer's father's mater-
nal grandfather, Michael Burst, a Palatine, on arriving in Phi-
ladelphia, in August 1729, wended his course by Manatawny
and Tulpehocken, westward some seventy-five miles into the
wilderness, from the town of Philadelphia, squatted among the
Indians, on a tract of land two miles north-west from the pre-
sent site of the town of Lebanon. The farm is now owned by
Joseph Light, near Lebanon.

Burst's nearest white neighbors were the Noacres and Spy-
kers, and others, who had settled in 1723 to 1729, at the west
€nd of the Tulpehocken settlement. To answer his wants, he
erected a cabin or hut — not unlike the shantees put up by the
Irish a few years ago, near the same place, when excavating
the canal.

When Michael Burst ,or Boarst, left Germany for America,
he was accompanied by rising of seventy Palatine families,
making in all about one hundred and eighty persons. They
were imported in the ship Mortonhouse, James Coultas, master,
from Rotterdam, but last from Deal, as by clearance thence
dated, 21st of June, 1729, They arrived in August, and signed
the following declaration the 19th of August.

We, subscribers, natives and late inhabitants of the Palaiinate

304 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

upon the Rhine, and places adjacent, having transported our-
selves and families into this Province of Pennsylvania, a colony
subject to the crown of Great Britain, in hopes and expectation
of finding a retreat and peaceable settlement therein, do solemn-
ly promise and engage, tliat we will be faithful, and bear true
allegiance to his present Majesty, King George the Second,
and his successor, King of Great Britain, and will be faithful
to the Proprietor of this Province; and that we will demean
ourselves peaceably to all his said Majesty's subjects, and
strictly observe and conform to the laws of England, and of
this Province, to the utmost of our power, and best of our un-
derstanding.

Among others who sailed in the same ship, were the follow-
ing:— John Philip Rank, John Miller, Michael Urelick, Jacob
Bowman, Dirick Adam Weidle, John Rice, Christopher Bum-
garner, Johannes Orde, Jacob Fetter, Jacob Eshelman, Chris-
topher Fry, Jacob Over, David Mantandon, Martin Alstadtant,
Adam Schambach, Valentine Fikus, Conrad Kilhnor, Johannes
Brinkler, Casper Dorest.*

The region of country in which he located, was previously know'n
among the Indians as "Quitopahecla,'' i. e.. Snake Harbor ; for
Burst's first work, in the morning, was, to kill snakes, in and
outside of the hut. For the want of earthen ware, they used
gourds or calabashes, as drinking cups, and for "milk pans."

Burst's location formed a kind of nucleus for a more dense
and extended settlement. George Steitz soon followed Burst,
and located south-east from him, on the Quitopahila creek.
The greater proportion of land between Steitz's and Burst's,
w^as located by Casper Wiester, the brass button-maker, (and
son-in-law^ of Mr. Zimmerman, of Lancaster county,) who sold
several hundred acres, in 1738, to John Licht, grandfather of
Joseph Licht ; or, as now spelt — Light. The Deed describes
the southern boundary of this farm, "South by George Steitz's
settlement," &c.

Among others who settled in and about Burst's and Steitz's,
besides Licht, at this period, were Peter Kuecher, Martin
Meylin, Henrich Klein, John Adam Kettring, John George
Hederick, Jacob Rieger, Anastatius Uhler. Though many of
them commenced with small means, they acquired so much of

* Col. Rec. iii 390.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 305

this world's goods, as to render them not only comfortable, but
many grew rich. From the subjoined inventory of goods and
chattels, the property of Michael Burst, deceased,* it will be
seen that he was well calculated to settle in a new country. It
is evident he had all the necessaries to get along, and help his
neighbors too.

Jinacconntofthe effects that belmiged tothedec'd, Michael Burst.

Five head of horses and mares, £14, 10, 0. Eight
head of cows, £13, 10, 0, £28

Six sheep, £1, 10. The dec'd, Michael Burst's

clothes, £1, 3, 3 10 0

A gun, 6,y. Two spinning wheels, 8s. Woollen
and linen yarn, £1, 3,

A piece of linen cloth, £2. Two stone bottles 4^,

Four books, £1. Two chests, 7s. A tailor's shears
and goose, os,

A hammer and anvil, 4^-. Two augurs and a draw-
ing knife, 5s,

A log chain, 13^. A plantation wagon, plough and
gears, £2, 10,

A cutting knife and steel, 9,?. Old iron tools, £1,

Earthen ware, 4^-. Wooden vessels, 13^". Eight
bags, 15s,

A saddle and bri<lle, 10s. A sow and pigs, 12^.
The plantation, £40,

Debts owing to Michael Burst from Adam Clately,
£8, 10, and Henry Peters, £4,10,

This part of the county being the garden spot, soon a large
number of families, jMennonites and others, settled thick around
here. The massive three story house, with a " hipped roof,"
erected by John Licht in 1742, was a regular monthly meeting
place, where the Mennonites met for worship. The Moravians
also had a house of worship erected prior to 1743, hard by the

* Michael Burst died in 1741. The widow, Barbara Burst, administered,
entered into bond, to faithfully execute her trust. Her sureties were George.
Sleitz and Ana.>tatius Uhler. Bond, entered at Lancaster, Nov. 3. 1741,

26*

1

2

17 a

4 0

1

10 0

0

9 0

3
1

3 0,

9 0

1

12 0

41

2 0.

13

0 0

£99

15 0

306 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Quitopahilla, a mile east of the present site of Lebanon, and a
few hundred yards north from the stone Oratorium, which w^as
built in 1750.

The Moravian communion was considerable. In 1748, they
held a synod for the transaction of ecclesiastical business in the
wooden building, on the banks of Quitopahila. Loskiel
says :

"Soon after Bishop Cammerhofs return from Shamokin, a
synod was held in Quitopahila ; in which the mission among the
Indians was considered with much attention, and the following
principles reviewed and approved:

1. The Brethren do not think, that they are called to bap-
tize whole nations; for it is more to the purpose, to gain one
converted soul, than to persuade m.any to take merely the
name and outward form of Christianity.

2. We are not discouraged by the d?.ngers and hardships at-
tending the labor among the heathens, but always bear in re-
membrance, that our Lord endured distress and death itself, to
gain salvation for us, and rested not till the great work was
finished. If, after the most strenuous exertions of soul and
body, one soul is gained for Christ, we have an ample re-
ward.

3. We will continue to preach nothing to the heathen but
Jesus, and him crucified, repeating the same testimony of his
gospel, till the hearts of the heathen are awakened to believe ;
being fully convinced, that the power of the eross is the word
of God, which is alone able to bring souls from darkness into
light.

4. The missionaries should never reject any heathen, not
even the most abandoned and profligate, but consider them as
persons, to whom the grace of Jesus Christ ought to be of-
fered."—Loskiel, P. u. p. 108, 109.

The names of the principal famifies connected with the He-
bron station, or Quitopahila church, were Kuccher, Meylin,
Klein, Kettring, Hederick, Rieger, Huber, Rathforn, Wagner,
Waschebach, Olinger, Schmal, George, Teis, Trachsler, Re-
wald, Mies, Urich, Danneberger, Heckedorn, Christman, Strue-
big, Stoehr, Etler, German, Orth.

Lebanon township'contained in 1750, nearly one hundred and
thirty taxables, as appears from the Tax Duplicate. Adam

HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 307

Ulrich, was collector for that year. Their names have been
preserved, and are as follows :

Jacob Steiner, Ulrich Burkholder, Robert Boyd, John Esny,
Jacob Helenger, George Berger, John Schnog, Michael Boarst,
Benjamin Brechtbill, Jacob Maron, Joseph Gingerich, Christian
Neave, Michael Gingerich, George Miller, Ulrich Zollinger,
Nicholas Hiiber, Peter Smith, Wollerich Steiner, Baltsar Road,
Peter Witmer, Martin Miley, Felix Landis, Henry Bowman,
John Gerber, Jacob Stouller, Peter Gingerich, John Heisey,
George Hetterick, Michael Holt, John Adam Schneider, Os-
wald Neis, George Strohm, Jacob Woolf, Andrew Wild, Wil-
liam Buroholder, Abraham Witman, George Peters, Leoiwrd
Young, John Helams, Christian Better, Harman Egel, Daniel
Seller, Abraham Corman, Michael Wambler, Jacob Diets, Ja- U)«c..,>^k*
cob Meyers, Nicholas Neig, Jacob Hubman, Michael Schune-
her, Adam Wenrich, Mathew Sti-awer, Henry Sanders, John
Schalley, Philip Park, Jonathan Held, Ralph "Whiteside, John
Troxel, Casper Lieper, John Licht, sen., George Elliger, Tho-
mas Hammersly, John Hallenbach, Leonard Umberger, Thomas
Clarke, John Clarke, Michael Polter, John M'Clintick, Rich- ^_
ard Robertson, Peter Gingerich, Jacob Geremor, Philip Bvers,
John Brechtbill, Christopher Simonus, John Bernwalt, Henry
♦Smith, Jacob Bian, Adam Bog, John Kreider, Henry Little,
Jacob Graf, Christian Kreider, Christopher Mvers, Jacob Hers-
berger, John Dewalt, Martin Houi, i'eier Woolf, Philip Olo-
ger, Robert Warner, Conrad Braun, Adam Wolert, John
tSchwob, George Schitz, Martin Hostetter, Geo. Huber, John
Whitmore, Peter Hailman, Peter Yoder, Christian Lono-, Pe-
ter Yerte, Nicholas Erb, Nicholas Ellenberger, John Mj^ers,
Benjamin Noll, Jacob Freely, Adam Brand, Michael Teis,
Philip Schaeffer, Henry Waschenbach, John Stohler, Thielman
Waschenbach, Warner Fuller, John Licht, Michael Wagoner,
Francis Reynolds, JohnEgesohn, Charles Schall}-, Christopher
Meyer, Andrew Miller, Peter Ebersohl, Michael Bachman.

That the increase of population was constant, will appear on
comparing the names of the taxables of the above list with the
names that follows, for 1755:

Philip ShefTer, Jacob Sheffer, Michael Tyce, Adam Brand,
Adam Brand, jr., John Brand, Abraham Smutz, Baniel Higen-
dorn, Peter Kucher, George Hettrick, Jno. Light, jr., Jacob

308 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Light, John Light, sen., George Steitz, John Miller, Peter
Slosser, Herman OrendorfF, John Seiler, Martin HofF, Adam
Weibel, Jacob Zolicker, John Schultz, Michael Singer, Henry
Ushenbach, Jacob Gemberhng, Christopher Miller, John Adam
Reifvvein, Conrad Ziegler, Jacob Schwobe, John Adam Miller,
Conrad Wise, Hermau Eckel, John Atkinson, Jacob Creesman,
Jacob Blaser, Michael Stegbed, John Keramerling, Bartholor
mausKuntzelman, LenhartUmberger,AnastasiusUhler, Michael
Wagner, Philip Meeshy, William Blegher, Peter Wolf, Nich-
olas Ackerman, Jacob Heger, Dietrich W\-itzel, Christ. Bren-
zer, Heury Ehler, Menhard Sebold, Geo. Elinger, Jacob Graff,
Adam Bough, Christian Kreiter, Martin Kreiter, JohnKreiter,
Henry Little, Christopher Mier, Felix Landis, Henry Bowman,
Henry Smith, Jacob Giles, John Gerber, Philip Star, Conrad
Brown, Jacob StoutFer, Peter Gingerich, Michael Gingerich,
Jost Gingerich, John Hiesey, Michael Horst, Jacob Meyer,
Adam Nicodemus, Geo. Diehl, Oswal Neave, Dorst Thomas,
Christian Strohm, Jacob Schock, John Becher, Geo. Gloss-
brenner, Geo. Huber, Philip Clinger, John Haushalter, John
Dinius, Adam Steger, Martin Illy, Jacob Gi-aff, jr., John Cam-
ber, Ralph Whiteside, Joseph Espy, Charles Shally, Michael
Bachraan, Christian Burkholder, John Ebersohl, Michael Boor,
Abraham Heit, Michael Boltz, Philip Rudesill, Jacob Frolick,
Ludwick Shally, Geo. Berger, John Snook, Gerhard Etter,
Michael Zimmerman, Christian Bloiich, Benj. Knall, Geo. Die-,
trich, John Brechbill, Dewalt Lichty, Daniel Resor, Philip
Byer, Michael Fernsler, Hans Ulrich Huber, Frederick Kauf-
man, Nicholas Ellingberger, John Wilhelm, Peter Frank, John
EUenberger, Nicholas Erb, Goo. Hopengortner, Peter Eschel-
man, Christian Long, John Doner, Henry Xander, Peter Wit-
raer, Casper Weaver, John Bachman, Ulrich Burkholder, Con-,
rad Mintziger, Jacob Benedict, Mathias Boger, Henry Frick,
Michael Wampler, Jacob Brenizer, Christian Miller, Jacob.
Horschberger, Delman Klein, Jacob Wolf, Jacob Killinger,
Jacob Beam, Peter Reise, Michael Henry, Michael Kinnert,
Casper Seller, Peter Schweigert, Mathias Strayer, Christian
Neave, John Huber, Richard Grain, Geo. Miatzer, Michael
Ulerich, Ulrich Stephan, Martin Kerstetoi', Adam Ulrich, Hen-
r\' Humberger, Thomas Clark, John Clark, Adam Steer, Henry
Peter, Peter Yorty, Martin Mily, Adam Hailman, Abraham
Kornman, Peter Hailman, Rudolph Miller, Peter Smith, Chris-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 309

tian Herschberger, Nicholas Neii, Richard Robison, John Spi-
ger, Andrew Weltz, Peter Kremer, John Siegrist, Michael
JBoltz, Daniel Seiber, Abraham Weidman, John M'Clintock,
John Casper Stover, Conrad Templeman, Abraham Sheafer,
Ulrich Wampler, George Crusraan, Henry Smith, Henry Bow-
man.

Lebanon, the county seat, is in this township; little, how-
ever, of its early history lias been preserved. There is a di-
versity of opinion, even as to the time when it was laid out. —
According to Robert Proud, who wrote a History of the Pro-
vince between 1760 and 1773, "Lebanon was laid out about
the year 1759; and in 1772, it is said to contain above two
hundred good dwelling houses, many of them laige and well
built of stone, dug out of the ground where the l»uses stand,
and principally inhabited by Germans."*

Another writer. Rev. George Lochman, D. D., whose op-
portunities for research were favorable, and whose statement is
worthy of credit, says, " Diese Stadt, Lihanon, ist im Jahr,
1756 von George Steitz ausgelegt worden, und liegt an dem
Fluss Quitopahilla (ein Indianischer Name, der auf Deutch,
Schlangenloch heist.)!

An eastern gentleman, S. Day, says, "Lebanon — Dr Steitze-
town, as it was for a long time called, and still by many of the
old Germans — was probably laid out about the year 1750, by
one Steitze."!

Touching Day's statement, it might, passing, be remarked,
that there is nothing problematical as to the town being laid
out. No German seems to doubt this. Ail agree it was laid
out. As to the time when, there is some difference of opinion.
As to this, there is some "guessing."

The late Col. Adam Ritscher's father, was, says Day, one
of the first settlers, and paid ground rent, as appears by re-
ceipts still extant, as early as 1751, (1761?) He cleared the
lot west of the one upon which his son Adam lived, from the
forest then standing. §

During the French and Indian war, this place being then

* R. Proud^s His, Pa. ii. 284.

t Evang. Mag. for 1812, vol. i, p. 20.

t S. Day's His. Col. 420.

I S. Day's His. Col. 420.

310 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

already densely settled, was resorted to, as a place of safety,,
by hundreds of fomilies, who fled from the frontier settlements,,
to escape being murdered by the barbarous savages, whose cru-
elty knew no bounds — they were insatiable. Sixty families
had, at one time, taken shelter in the house of John Light,
w^hich is still standing, and known among the people there, as
the " Old Fort." The house of Mr. George Gloninger was
also a place of usual resort. Besides these, and some other
private houses, the Moravian church, erected in 1750, a mile
and a half east of Gloninger's, was occupied by refugees, the
principal part of whom had fled from the Moravian settlements
in Bethel to\\mship.* Loskiel, alluding to this fact, says, " the
savages continued to commit murders in Allemaengel — and a
lance lost by them on the road, proved them to be some of the
very people who attended the Congress (treaty) at Easton.
Roving parties infested the borders of the country, the public
roads, and all other places in which they found no re-
sistance, so ;:hat the small colonies of brethren settled in Alle-
maengel anr. Bethel, on Swatara, who had held out with un-
common paience, were at last obhged to take refuge, the for-
mer in Betilehem, and the latter in Lebanonf — this was in
1756. So:ne of them soon returned again to their farms, and
not a fev7 of them were surprised by the Indians and cruelly
murdered, One .Tolm Spitler, son-in-law to Jacob Meylin,
who was the grandfather of Martin Meyhn, of Jonestown, was
shot dead "^-hile fixing up a pair of bars — his body cruelly man-
gled. Mrs. Miley escaped by taking refuge in the watch-house,
at her fiither's, a few miles from Stumptown. This happened
in May, 1757. Spittler's mangled corpse was interred in the
grave-yard at Hebron, near Lebanon.

The following, touching the murder of Spittler, is found in
the Records of the Hebron Church. " 1751, May den 16,
wurde Johannes Spitler, jr., ohnweit von seinem Hause. an der
Schwatara von moerderischen Indianern ueberfallen iifid ermor-
dert. Er war im acht und dreisigsten Jahr seines Alters, und
verwichenes Jahr im April, an der Schwatara auf genommen.
Seine uebelzugerichttete Leiche wurde den 17ten May hieher

* Loskiel, P. ii.,p. ISO.

t There is still an old meeting house remaining at Swatara, in which ttia
Jlev. Simon reaches occasionally.

mSTORY OF BERKS Am) LEBANON COUNTIES. 811

^ebracht, und bei einer grossen Menge Leute begleitet auf un*
sern hiesigen Gottes-acker beerdigt.

During the Revolutionary war of '76, many of the residents
of this place, a few of whom are still living, took up arms in
common with many of their fellow patriots, in defence of Ameri-
can liberty, and were engaged in the battle of Trenton, N. Jer-
sey^ December 25, 1776, when the Hessians were routed with
great slaughter, and one thousand of them taken prisoners, and
not a few of them taken to Reading, and to Lebanon, where
they were confined in the old Lutheran Church in town, and
the Moravian Church below town. Some of the citizens of
Lebanon also took a part in the battle at Germantown, Octo-
ber 4th, 1777. They constituted a portion of the Pennsylvania
militia, three thousand strong, under the command of General
Armstrong, whose march on this occasion, it is said, is enwrapt
in mystery. "Some reports say, that he actually engaged the
Hessian division of the enemy, others state that the alarm of
the Americans retreating from Mr. Chew's stone house reached
his ear, as the vanguard of his command entered Germantown,
near the market house, and commenced firing upon the chas-
seurs who flanked the left wing of the British army." But to
return to the county town. In 1840, the following pensioners
were still living in the borough ; George Hess, aged 79 years;
Andrew Hoover, 75 ; Dilman Daup, 81 ; M. Weaver, 75 vears
old. ♦"

Lebanon, so called after the county, which was so named, as
some suppose, in allusion to the Lebanon of the Scripture, a
famous range of mountains in the north of Canaan, is pleasantly
situated on a branch of Quitopaheela creek, twenty miles from
the Capitol, and seventy-five rniles from the metropolis of the
State, on the turnpike 5 and contiguous to the Union Canal. It
is well laid out, and regularly built — the buildings are princi-
pally of stone, or brick, and generally commodious, though there
are but few large buildings in it, except the court house, which
is a spacious and splendid edifice of brick, surmounted by a cu-
pola. The county officers are in this building. In the area,
in the centre of the borough, is a market house. There is, as
a necessary indispensable, a jail; but, of late, it has had only
.a few inmates. There are, in the borough proper, which was
incorporated Feb. 20, 1821, about three hundred dwellings-

31^ HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

some ten or more taverns, and a like number of stores, one grist
mill, one clover mill, a foundry, and many mechanics shops.

There are in this place a number of churches — the Lutheran
which was erected in 1798, and dedicated the 3d of June — it
is built of stone, with a large steeple. In 1808 it was supplied
with an organ. The Lutherans had, previously, a log church,
erected in 1766. Prior to that time, a congregation had been
organized — they had held their meetings in a private house,
rented for that purpose.

The German Reformed church, was erected of stone about
the year 1787, and is at present undergoing some alterations.
A Catholic chapel of binck; a Methodist meeting house of
brick; one owned by the Evangelical Association; a United
Brethren Church ; a Mennonite meeting house are here. At pres-
ent here is another Lutheran Church building under the pastoral
care of Rev. J. Rothrauf.

The respective pastors of these churches are the Rev. Ernst,
of the Lutheran congregation, who officiates in German; Rev.
Rothrauf, in EngHsh. The Lutherans number rising of four
hundred members. The Rev. Henry Wagner is the pastor of
the German Reformed church — this congiegalion numbers be-
tween two hundred and fifty, and three hundred members. —
The Evangelical Association has upwards of one hundred mem-
bers— their pastors are, the Rev'ds Banner and Sailor. The
Methodist Episcopal has about one hundrefl members; the Rev.
Greenbank has the pastoral charge of this congregation. Rev.
Steinbach officiates in the Catholic chapel ; number of members
about eighty. The United Rrethern number probably twenty
members.

There are five Sabbath Schools here, and all well attended ;
numbering between 500 and 600 children. The Borough contains
404 families, and an adult population of 1092. The entire
population, by the census of 1840, was, of the borough pro-
per, 1,860.

The Union canal passes contiguous to the borough, affording
p-reat facilities to business, where the bustling, neat village of
North Lebanon is growing up beautifully and rapidly. It will
outgrow Lebanon proper.

The means of education are favorable. There is a fine
academy here, and ably conducted by Mr. Kluge, whose effi-
cient system of instruction cannot be too highly appreciated. —

falSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 318

has been said that he is not sufficiently encouraged, because the
importance of a proper education of youth, and its influence
upon the habits and character, in after Hfe, do not seem to be
well considered. This is to be much regretted. The academy
contains between thirty and forty scholars. It was incorporated
in 1816, to which the State made a donation of $2000. There
is also a female seminary here, and it is said to be well con-
ducted. All the young ladies in town and country should at-
tend it. Where the acquisition of wealth is appreciated and trade
understood, a bank would be deemed necessary — such an insti-
tution is here — it is judiciously managed. The inhabitants are
nearly all German, who usually, in addressing a stranger, speak
in their vernacular tongue, though nearly all can speak some
English. They are hospitable, frugal and industrious ; many
of them own out lots, and may be seen at work, in summer,
barefooted.

There are several newspapers published here — of these some
account is given when speaking of the " Press." Near the town
is a stationary steam engine, by which water is raised from the
Quitopahila and conducted to the canal ! !

The original boundaries of Lebanon township have, by re-
ducing and dividing it, since its erection, June 9th, 1729, been
materially changed. In 1729, its boundaries were thus defined :
"Lebanon township beginning under the aforesaid hill, ,(i. e.,
the Kehtotoning'^ hill, above Peter Allen's,) at the north-east
corner of Peshtank,f thence by the said hill, easterly, to the
Tolpehocken manor, thence southerly by the said line, to the
hills bounding Warwick township, thence by the said hills and
township, westerl}-, to the corner of Derry, on Conewago,
thence northerly by Derry and Peshtank, to the place of be-
crinnino;."

In 1739 it was reduced, by erecting Bethel township. In
1830, it was bounded as follows : — but since, divided into North
and South Lebanon — on the north, by Swatara and Bethel
townships ; east by Jackson and Heidelberg townships ; south
by Lancaster county, and west by Londonderry and Annville
townships. Greatest length, eleven miles ; greatest breadth,
seven miles — containing 44,700 acres of first rate land — surface
very level, and principally limestone soil. The improvements

* Kittatinny, or Blue mountain,
t Paxton.

27

814 HISTORY OF BERKS A^D LEBAifON COUNTIES.

are of the first rate order. There are many fine buildings in this^
township;

North and South Lebanon are well watered. The Quitopa-
hila creek, a beautiful, fine stream, flows through the borough
of Lebanon, and in its course propels several mills. The Union
Canal, and Reading and Harrisburg turnpike, pass through
North Lebanon township. Iron ore is found in abundance — in
South Lebanon, in the Conewago hills, and in the south part
of this township. Cornwall Furnace, erected at the head of
Furnace creek, is supplied with ore from these mines. The fur-
nace is owned by B. Di Coleman. The streams are the head of
Tulpehocken, Hammer creek, Kuder creek, Meadow run, and
head of Conewago creek.

North and South Lebanon, in 1840, contained seventeen
stores, three lumber yards, eight grist mills, five tanneries, three
distilleries, two breweries, three potteries, four printing officeSy
three weekly papers and one periodical, one academy — fifty
students, eleven schools — four hundred and twenty scholars.
Population in 1830, 3,556 ; in 1840, 6,197, Tax valuation
for North Lebanon in 1844, $569,465; county tax, S854 20.
South Lebanon, $1,238,750 ; county tax, $1^858 13.

BETHEL TOWNSHIP.

Bethel township wns partof Lebanon tow^nship, till May,1739y
when it was separated, by an order of Court, at Lancaster, It
was divided, and bounded as follows, viz :

" That the division line begin at S^^tara creek, at a stony
ridge, about half a mile below John Tittle's, and continuing
along the said ridge, easterly, to Tolpehocken township, to the
northward of Toljias Pickel's, so as, in the course, to leave
John Benauglcj Adam Steel, Thomas Ewersly and Mathias
Tise, to the southward of the line — that the northermost divi-
sion be named and called Bethel — the southern division contin-
ue the name Lebanon." Bethel then embraced, also, what is
now Swatara township and part of Union.

When Berks county was erected ^ in 1752, part of this town-
ship was separated and included within the limits of that coun-
ty. It was, no doubtj so called after a colony of Moravians^

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 315

who had a small establishment on the Swatara, in this towm
ship, called Bethel — the literal import of the term, is " the
house of God." The Moravian colony, formed^here, was one
among their first in Pennsylvania. In 1737, Mr. Spangenber^
ger, a Moravian missionary, having fulfilled his appointment in
establishing the mission in Georgia, capie to Pennsylvania,
where he remained for some time, and thence to St. Thomas,
one of the West India islands, to hold a visitation in that mis^
sion. He then returned, and remained in Pennsylvania till
1739. Through him, it is said, the United Brethren were made
attentive to other Indian nations, especially the Iroquois, or Six
Nations. Mr. Spangenbergcr received the first notice of them
from Conrad Weiser, justice of the peace, and interpreter to the
government in Pennsylvania.*

They erected a church here about 1740. ' The Rev. Johan-
nes Brand Mueller officiated here, about the year 1744. The
names of their members are still preserved — a few of them we
were permitted, by the politeness of the Rev. Henry Francis
Simon, tlieir present pastor at Hebron, near Lebanon, to copy
from the " Schwatarer Kirchen Buch, containing ein Verzeich-^
niss der Brueder der Gemeine und deren Kindern welche von
den Bruedern sind getauft worden von April Anno 1743.

Among their first members here, were Rudolph Hauck, Ja-
cob Dueps, Wilhelm Fischer, Ludwig Born, Johan Frederich
Weiser, Christian Bimmer, George Miesse, Jacob Gausser
Thomas Williams, Franz Albert, Jacob Haentchy, Daniel
Born, JMichael Kohr, Johannes Spitler, Bernhard Faber, Casper
Korr.

This township was originally, nearly wholly settled by Ger-
mans and some French Huguenots : of the latter, was Franz
Albert, a native of Deux-ponts, born in 1719, July 20, and who
came to this country when a young man, and was afterwards
cruelly murdered by the Indians, June 26, 1756. As early as
1751, the following taxables resided in this township:

John Ebrechi, James Macnees, David Fischer, Jacob Mire,
Mathias Grey, Mr. Folk, Edmund Schnebly, John Schnebly,
John Reynolds, John King, Abraham Siettler, Jacob Miley,
Urbin Long, Peter Groff, Han JVickle Garst, Dewalt Garst,
Philip Wolf, Rudy Huntsecker, Widow Gray, Widow Brecht-

* Loskiel His. Mis. P. ii.. p. 4.

316 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

bill, Casper Sherrick, Jacob Oberholtzer, Henry Wagoner^
Henry Dubs, Henry Souter, Peter Kenny, Christian Leaman^
Peter Clop, Adam Berger, Abraham Hnbbler, Wendel HeyL
Earned Boughs, Jacob Weaver, Killian Long, Christian Long,
Jacob Schnebly, Jno. Kneagy, Dewald JVabinger, Abraham-
Grove, Jacob Wagoner, Adam Snider, Jacob Miller, Jacob
Carner, Micholas Benner, Caspar Hisler, Frederick Tibbin,
Jno. Bickle, Henry Bohn, He?iry Mark, Isaac Schnelby, Henry
Kelker, John Martin, Henry Sietz, Crom Jacob Mire, George
Miess, J\tcholas Wirrigh, Martin Kemmerling, Lxidwig Wai-
ten, Andrew Hollo, Christian Lantz, Ada7n Kli?ie,. Christian
Leaman, John Mish, Frederick Rudy, Peter Forster, Jacob
Goldman, Joseph Stout, Wm. Jones, Samuel Stout, Andreto
Kaufman, Conrad Gerhart, Valentine Gerkart, John IVingerd,.
Henry Schnebly, Henry Stiegle, Ulrich Yeakle, Valentine Kei-
fer, Peter Gray, John Bop, Philip Creesman, Thos. Mottern,
George Fredrick, Anthony Jfagle, Casper Stover, jr., Isaiah
Casaway, Peter Smith, Thornas Mayberre, Jacob Albert, Dan-
iel Schuhy, Ludwick Schuhy, Michael Frantz, Mathias Loser ^
Conrad Lor, Gotlieb Torrom, JVicholas Schonty.

During the French anil Indian war, notwithstanding there
was a hne of provincial forts extending along the frontiers of
Dauphin, Lebanon and Berks counties, intended as defences
against the incursions of the savages, and as places of security,
many of the inhabitants of this part of the county were most
cruelly murdered, their houses burnt, their children taken cap-
tive. In November, 1700, twenty persons were killed, and
some children carried oft' by the Indians. " Shocking," says the
Secretary of the Province, in his statement to the Assembly,
"are the descriptions given, by those who escaped, of the hor-
rid cruelties and indecencies, committed by the merciless sava-
ges, on the bodies of those unhappy wretches, who fell into the
hands, especially the women, without regard to age or sex, these
fareiXceeds those related of the most abandoned pirates."*

In June, 1756, the Indians again appeared in this township,
and committed, in cold blood, cruel and deliberate murder.

On the 8th of June, in the afternoon, between three and four
o'clock, four or five Indians made an incursion, at a place
called " The Hole," where the Great Swatara runs through the

Prov. Rec. N., p. 342.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 317

Blue mountain — they crept up, unobserved, behind the fence
of Felix Wuench, shot hiin, as he was ploughing, through the
breast — he cried lamentably, and run, but the Indians soon came
up with him : he defended himself some time with his whip —
they cut his head and breast with their tomahawks, and scalped
Lim. His wife heard his cries, and the report of two guns —
ran out of the house, but was soon taken by the enemy, who
carried her, with one of her own and two of her sister's chil-
dren away with them, after setting the house on fire and other-
wise destroying property.

A servant boy, who was at some distance, seeing this, ran to
his neighbor, George Miess ; though he had a bad leg, w'ith his
son, ran directly after the Indians, and raised a great noise,
which so frightened tlie Indians, that they immediately took to
their heels, and in their flight left a tub of butter, and a side
of bacon, behind them. Mr. Miess then went to the house,
which was in llames, and threw down the fences, in order to
save the barn. The Indians had drunk all the brandy in the
spring house, and took several gammons, a quantity of meal,
some loaves of bread, and a great many other things with them.

Had Mr. Miess not been so courageous, they probably would
have attacked another house. They shot one of the horses ia
the plough, and dropped a large French knife."*

Shortly after committing the above mentioned murder, the Indi-
ans killed a child of Lawrence Dippel's. The child was found
cruelly murdered and scalped — a boy about four years old.
Another lad about six years old was carried off.f

On the 26th of June, 1756, the Indians killed four persons,
scalped them, and shot two horses. Two men, Franz Albert
and Jacob Haendsche, and two lads, Frederick Weiser and John
George Miess, were ploughing in the field of one Fischer, W'ere
surprised, murdered and scalped by the Indians, as appears
from an extract taken from the Schwatarer Kirchen Buck :

In dem Wilden Krieg sind folgende vier Brueder, Franz Al-
bert, Jacob Haendsche, zwei Maenner; Friedrich Wieser und
John George Miess, zwei Knaben, die in der Hohl welche, da
sie daselbst auf des alten Fischers Feld, um der Gefahr wegen.
gemein schaefthch pfluegten Nachmittags, den 26 ten Juli,
1756, von den Wilden Indianern zugleich ploetzlich ueberfal-

* Pa. Gaz.,,Tiine 17, 1756.
; Pa. Gaz., June 17. 1756.

27*

318 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

len, getoedet und gescalpt worden; und Sontags den 27 ten
Juni, mit einer Starken Bedeckung von Sold aten und auderer
Mannschaft aus der Hohl gefahren und mit einem Starken Ge-
folg von etwa zwei hundert Menschen, unter Eruder Friederich
Schlegel's Liturgie, im Beysein des Binder Samuel Herrs, der
auch zu der Zeit hierwar, zugleich auf unser Gottes Acker,
unter einem Gotlesfrieden beerdigt worden.

From the same book, it appears Franz Albert was born at
Deux-Ponts, July 20, 1719 — he was a shoemaker by profession,
formerly a member of the Reformed Church. J. Haendsche was
a mason by trade, also formerly a member of the Reformed
Church. Weiser was born May 21, 1740, and Miess, Septem-
ber 28, 1739.

The Rev. Muhlenberg relates, in the Hallische Nachrichten,
page 1029, an affecting case of a widow woman, who called
at his house in the month of February, 176o. This lady had
been a member of one of the Rev. Kurtz's congregations. She
was a native of Reutlinge, Wirtemberg — she and her husband
had emigrated to this country, and settled on the frontiers ot
this coimty. The Indians fell upon Ihem, October the 16th,
1755 — according to her statement, the Indians killed the old
man, one of his sons, and carried off two small girls, while she
and one of her sons had been absent. On her return home she
found their dwelling reduced to ashes — she then fled to the
interior settlements at Tulpehocken, and remained there.

The Rev. Todd, in his Sal'bath School Teadter, alludes to
the same affecting incident. In addressing his youthful readers
he says:

You are aware, my dear pupils, that many of the early set-
tlers of Pennsylvania came from Germany. Among the 'nu-
merous emigrants, from that country, was a poor man with a
large family. At that time "there were no schools here during
the week, or on the Sabbath, and no churches. So the poor
man used to keep his family at home on the Sabbath, and teach
them from God's word — for he was a very good man. In the
year 1754, a dreadful war broke out in Canada, between the
French and English. The Indians joined the French, and
used to go to Pennsylvania, burn houses, murder the people
and carry off every thing they wanted. They found the dwel-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 319

ling of this poor German family. The man, and his eldest boy,
and two little girls, named Barbara and Regina, were at home,
■while the wife, and one of the boys were gone to carry some
grain to the mill, a few miles oft'. The Indians at once killed
the man, and his son, and took the two little girls, one aged
ten, and the other nine, and carried them away, along with a
gi-eat many other weeping children whom they had taken after
murdering their parents. It was never known what became of
Barbara, the eldest girl; but Regina, with another httle girl
of two years old, whom Regina had never seen before, were
given to an old Indian woman, who was very cruel. Her only
son lived with her, and supported her; but he was sometimes
gone for several weeks, and then the old woman used to send
the little girls to gather roots and herbs in the woods, for the
old w^oman to eat; and w^hen they did not get enough, she used
to beat them cruelly. Regina never forgot her good father and
mother, and the little girl always kept close to her. She
taught the little girl to kneel down under the trees and pray to
the Lord Jesus, and to say over with her all the hymns which
her parents had taught her. In this state of slavery these chil-
dren lived for many long years, till Regina was about nineteen,
and her little friend was about eleven years old. Their hearts
all this time seemed to wish for that which is good. They
used to repeat, not only the texts of Scripture which Reo-ina
could remember, but there was one favorite hymn which they
often repeated over.

" In the year 1764, the kindness of God brought the English
Colonel Bouquet to the place where they were. He conquered
the Indians, and made them ask for peace. He granted it on
condition that all the white prisoners should be given to him. —
More than four hundred were brought to the Colonel; and
among them, these two girls. They were all poor, wretched
looking objects. The Colonel carried them to Carlisle, and
had it printed in all the newspapers, that all parents who had
lost children by the Indians, might come and see if they were
among the four hundred poor captives." Parents and husbands
went hundreds of miles in hopes of meeting lost wives or chil-
dren. The collection amounted to several thousand, and the
sight of beholding relatives, who had been cruelly sundered,
again meet and rush into each others arms, filled the whole
company with rejoicing. There was also mourning. Others

320 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

who were disappointed in their expectations of finding relatives^,
made much lamentation. Among them was " poor Regina's
sorrowing mother. When she got to Carlisle she did not, and
could not know Regina. She had grown up, and looked, and
dressed, and spoke like the Indians. The mother went up and
down among the captives weeping, but could not find her child.
She stood gazing and weeping when Colonel Rouquet came up
and said, 'do you recollect nothing by which your child might
be discovered/' She said she recollected nothing but a hymn,
which she used often to sing to her children, and which is as
follows:

'Alone, yet not alone am I,
Though in this solitude so drear;
I feel my Saviour always nigh,
He comes the very hour to cheer;
I am with him, and he with me,
E'en here alone I cannot be I'

"The Colonel desired her to sing the hymn as she used to
do. Scarcely had the mother sung two lines of it, when poor
Regina rushed from the crowd, began to sing it also, and threw
herself into her mother's arms. They both wept for joy, and
the Colonel gave the daughter up to her mother. Rut the
other little girl had no parents. They had probably been
murdered. She clung to Regina, and would not let her go, so
she was taken home with Regina, though her mother was very
poor. Regina began to ask after 'the book in which God
speaks to us.' But her mother had no Bible — for the Indians
burned her Bible when they burned her house, and killed her
family. Her mother resolved to go to Philadelphia and buy a
Bible, but her good minister gave her one, and it was found
that Regina could read at once." — Todd's Sabbath School
Teacher.

The following is from M?-. Sarge, in answer to a letter ad-
dressed him, on the subject of Indian incursions &c., he says :

"In 1834, an uncle of mine purchased a farm, three miles
from Fort Smith, the house then (in 1834) on this farm, was
evidently also a Fort — tradition has it so — there are, besides —

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 321

or were at least, when I saw the house in '34, marks of cor-
roborating evidence, to conclusively show this to have been the
case. The port-holes, though plugged when I saw the house,
and the scores of partial perforations made in the logs by bul-
lets or balls, concur to sustain the truth of tradition.. The
house has, however, been since removed, and in its stead, ano-.
ther is erected. The workmen, in sinking the cellar deeper,
discovered a subterranean cave, which, it is surmised, served as
a place of concealment and greater security for their wives and
little ones, should the Fort be surprised by the Indians, in the
absence of their men on their farms at work; for in those days
the neighbors were, from want of necessity, compelled to aid
each other on their farms, and at night all would resort to the
Fort.

Mr. Mies, some years ago, informed my father that two of
his brothers fell a victim to gratify the destructive propensity of
the Indians. The two brothers were ploughing, and thus were
surprised by the Indians. One of them was shot dead on the
spot; the other, for his hfe, made for the house; having nearly
reached his goal, and while in the act of leaping a fence, a
ruthless Indian, bard on his heels, sunk his tomahawk in tb«
head of his victim — he expired instantly I

A man by the name of Boeshore,"^ while returning from his
farm in the evening, with his iaraily, espied some Indians near
Fort Smith — he halted at that instant, an Indian levelled his
deadly weapon at him, but fortunately, the bullet struck the
cock of Boeshore's gun — for the gun was in that day a constant
companion of the laboring man — his horses took flight and ran
oir in the direction of the Fort. B. was, however, wounded
in his left arm. The Indians were fired upon; night advancing,
and the Indians retreating, nothing more was done till next
morning, when the settlers traced blood in the trail toward the
Little mountain."

Bethel township has been materially changed since its first
erection. It is bounded on the north-east by Schuylkill and
Berks counties, south-east by Jackson township, south by North
Lebanon township, and west by Swatara. Its greatest length
is thirteen miles; breadth seven. It contains about thirty thou-
sand acres of land — the northern part of which is mountainous;
* Boeshore resided in Hanover township at the time.

322 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIESo.

the southern is level — and some of the best kind of soil, espe-<.
cially that portion which is limestone — though the greater pro-
portion is slate and gravel ; yet generally highly improved.
Many of the buildings are good ; a few are still found covered
with tiles. There is considerable taste displayed — though some-
what grotesque — in the arrangements about their dwellings.

This township is well watered. The principal stream is the
Little Swatara creek, which rises at the base of the Kittatinny
— or Elue mountain — in Upper Tulpehocken township, Berks
county, and flows south-west, forming the boundary between
Bethel and Tulpehocken townships, in Berks; thence it crosses
Bethel and Swatara townships, LebanoM county, and falls into
the Great or Big Swatara creek, about one mile below Jones-,
town. It turns several mills. In its course, it receives, in
Bethel township, Elizabeth run and Deep run. In the forks of
the former lies Fredericksburg or Stumpstown. There are
several other smaller streams in the township.

In 1840, there were in this township, four stores, one fur-
nace, one forge, three grist mills, one saw mill, two distilleries.

Fredcricksbio'g — or Stumpstown — was laid out about the
year 1754 or 1755, by one Stump. Among its first inhabi-
tants were Stump, Snevely, Meily, Mauerer, the first tavern
keeper in the place, Desch, Hauer and Siegfried. During the
Indian WMr, it was a place of retreat for the white settlers on
the frontiers.

In 1827, a great part of the town was destroyed by fire ;
but has since been rebuilt. It is pleasantly situated, in a fer-
tile, and well improved country. It contains between sixty
and seventy dwellings; nearly one hundred families; with a
population of about seven hundred and fifty. The village con-
tains three stores, three taverns, and the usual number of han-
dicrafts; also a Union church, in which Lutherans, German Re-
formed and Mennonites preach; also a church owned by the
Evangelical Association.

Population of Bethel township in 1830, 1,604; 1840, 1,662.
Average tax valuation for 1844, $538,011; county tax,
$807 01.

HISTOaV OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. SSl;

HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

Hanover township embraced originally, when first erected,
what is now Hanover, in Dauphin county, Hanover, Union,
and part of Swatara township-, in Lebanon county. In 1729,
when Lancaster was erectedj and additional townships were
laid off, Derry, Lebanon and Peshtank, (Paxton,) embraced
nearly all Dauphin and Lebanon counties, till 1739, when Be-
thel was separated from Lebanon township.

Peshtank township, out of which Hanover was formed, was
bounded in 1729, as follows : — " Beginning at the mouth of
Suataaro, thence up the river to Kehtotoning hill, above Peter
Allen's, thence eastward by the south side of said hill, to the
meridian of Quetopohello, thence on a south course to the
mouth of the same at Suataaro, and down Suataaro to the
place of beginning."

Hanover township was erected, upon a petition of the inhab-
itants of Lancaster county, presented at the February session
of 1736-7. " It was divided on the west from Peshtank, (Pax-
ton,) by Beaver creek, from its mouth to the mountain — from
Lebanon on the east, and Derry on the south, by Swatara
■creek, from Beaver to the forks, thence by the north branch
to the mountain.

Prior to 1751, Hanover was divided into the West End, and
East End of Hanover; the latter is now, principally, if not
wholly, embraced within the bounds of Lebanon county. Many
of the original settlers were Irish, who had emigrated princi-
pally from the north of Ireland. They were an enterprizing
and daring race. Presbyterians by rehgious profession. Prin-
cipally conspicuous as militant and triumphant members of
community. They and their kindred of Paxton and Donegal,
for many years bravely defended the frontiers against the Indi-
ans; and finally, when no other means answered, slaughtered
^^ friend and foe''' of the Indians. Allusion is had to "^Paxton
affair^' in Lancaster.*

The taxables in the East End of Hanover, in 1750,
were the following: — Jacob Musser, Peter Hettrich, Mel-
chior Henry, Thomas Proner, Henry Bachmiin, Conrad

* See Appendix B, for a full statement of the "Paxton affair."

324 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBAN'Oi^T COUNTlfc'S.

■Clatt, Anthony Rosebaum, Jacob Mosher, Esau Ricker, Wil-
liain Clark, John Sibbins, John Schwar, James Young, John
Gilleland, Peter Hahuan, Widow Work, Frederick Hoak, Jas.
Sloan, Widow Gilleland, Jacob Sops, John Sops, P»,udolph Hake,
Joseph Hoof, Benj. Clark, Kilhon Mark, George Tittel, Isaac
Williams, Adam Clannean John Casnet, James Williams, An-
thony Tittel, Dennis Keril, Mathias Boor, John Sloan, Daniel
Ankel, William Young, Abraham Williams, James Clark, Mar-
tin Lichty, Adam Roth, Ludwig Shits, John Stewart, John
Foster, John Andrew, Walter McFarland, Joseph Brechtbill.
William Robison, Philip Kolps, Onwal Jagle, Thomas Croil,
Alexander Swan, Alexander Thomson, John Graham, Samuel
Ainsworth, John Martin, Barnet M'Night, Widow Brown,
John Humes, Andrew M'Keehan, Thomas Brewster, John
Thomson, James Graham, John Cunningham, William Cunning-
ham, Christopher Sies, John MeyeVs, Patrick Brown, John
Andrews, John Strein, Antony M'Crath, George Shetley, Wal-
ter Bell, Leonard Long, Adam M'Neely, John M'Clure, John
Henderson, Wilham Woods, John Porterfield, Robert Haslet,
John Crawford, William Watson, Henry Gantz, James Green-
leaf, John Craig, Hugh M'Gowen, John Dickson, Joseph Will-
son, Adam Miller, Edward M'Murray, Jacob M'Corraick, John
Ramsey, James Stewart, Humphrey Cunningham, Robert Kirk-
wood, James M'Coorey, William Thomson, Thomas Strain,
Mathias Plank, Jacob Steiner, William Stoner, James Todd^,
John Young, James Dixon, Robert Bryson, William Bryson,
Daniel Andrew, David Stevenson, William Cathcart, William
Crosby, Benjamin Ainsworth, Patrick Bowen, Adam Harper,
Lazarus Stewart.

These Irish Presbyterians — as they were called by some —
defended their wives, children and country valiantly against the
Indians. They were in good earnest.

Lazarus Stewart was the one who proposed to his neighbors,
to g'o to Lancaster and storm the castle — alluding to what took
place in December, 1763, of which a detailed account will be
given in the appendix, or close of the book.

Th6 inhabitants of Hanover, in common with the frontier
settlers, were repeatedly alarmed, some murdered, others car-
ried off by the Indians. We cannot fully appreciate the suf-
ferings of the original settlers of this part of the county. —

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 325

They were not secure for one moment from being surprised or
murdered by the savages lurking on the borders of these coun-
ties. From 1755 till 1763, Lebanon and Berks counties were
scenes of murder, burning of houses, &c. They were exposed
to the cruel incursions of barbarous Indians, whose dehght was
to shed human blood — who regarded neither age nor sex — all
were, with them, alike objects of their cruelty.

The 16th of November, 1755, a party of Indians crossed
the Susquehanna — commenced their bloody deeds, and murdered
thirteen persons. In the autumn of 1756, a company of ten
Indians, came to the house of Noah Frederick, while ploughing,
killed and scalped him, and carried away three children that
were with him — the eldest but nine years old.*

A large portion of the plantations had been abandoned in
East and West Hanover townships. In West Hanover, the
following persons had fled : — John Gordon, Richard Johnson,
Alexander Barnet, James M'Caver, Robert Porterfield, Philip
Robison, John Hill, Thomas Bell, Thomas Maguire, William
M'Cord, Robert Huston, Benjamin Wallace, William Bennett,
Bartholomew Harris, John Swan, James Bannon, William M'-
Clure, Thomas M'Clure, John Henry, James Riddle, W^idow
Cooper, David Ferguson, Widow De Armand, James Wilson,
Samuel Barnetts, James Brown, Widow M'Gowin, Samuel
Brown, Tliomas Hill, Jane Johnston, killed .f

In the East End of Hanover, the following had fled : — John
Gilliland, John M'Culloch, Walter M'Farland, Robert Kirk-
wood, William RobisoQ, Valentine Stoffelbein, Adam Cleaman,
Rudolph Fry, Peter Walmer, John M'Culloch, jr., James Raf-
ter, Moses Vance, John Brooner, Jacob Mosser, Philip Mau-
erer, Barnhart Beshore, Jacob Beshore, Mathias Beshore, Wil-
liam M'Cullough, Philip Culp, Casper Yost, Conrad Cleck,
Christian Albert, Daniel Mosser, John M'Clure, Lazarus Stu-
art, Thomas Shirly, James Graham, Barnet M'Nett, Andrew
Brown, Wilham Brown, Andrew M'Mahon, Thomas Hume,
Thomas Strean, Peter Wolf, Henry Kuntz, William Watson,
John Hume, David Strean, John Stuart, John Porterfield, An-
thony M'Crath, James M'Curry, Conrad Rice, Alexander
Swan, John Gream. The following were killed — Andrew Ber-

* See page antea 64.

t Se6 tax duplicate for 17oG, at Lancaster, in which these are noted as
having fled when the collector called.

28

226 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ryhill, John Creigh, and his son taken captive ; Samuel AinS^
worth's son was also taken.*

A correspondence is mentioned in the Pennsylvania Gazette^
of May, 1757, stating, that " in a letter from Hanover, Lan-
caster county, dated May 2^ 1757, the house of Isaac Snevely
was set on fire, and entirely consumed, with eighteen horses
and cows — and that on the 17th of May, five, men, and a wo-
man, were killed and scalped by the Indians, about thirty miles
from Lancaster, &c." The editor of that paper says. May 26,
"We hear that more murders were committed — number uncer-
tain, but it is thought there are about twenty destroyed, be-
sides what may be carried off, and that the frontier inhabitants
are in great distress, and moving from their plantations, &c.t

The inhabitants of this region of country were kept in con-
tinual alarm during the spring, summer and autumn of this year,
on account of the murders committed by the Indians; One fails
in the attempt to describe the perils of the frontier settlers at
these times. The heart shrinks from portraying the scenes of
horror — the barbarous murderers butchered the whites in the
field — at their meals^n bed— at every unguarded hour.

Who would not sicken to view, in imagination, scalps clotted
with gore, mangled limbs, women ripped open, the heart and
bowels still palpitating with life, and smoking on the ground —
see savages swilling, as it were, human blood, and imbibing a
more courageous fury with the human draught — see the living,
not captives, fleeing for life, while the Indians are in hot
pursuit!

In a letter before us, dated Hanover, Lancaster county, Au-
gust 11, 1757, it is stated, " That on Monday, the 8th, while
George Mauerer was cutting oats in George SchefFer's field, he
was killed and scalped ^ There is now," says the same writer,
" such a severe sickiless in these parts — the like has not been
known — that rriany families can neither fight nor run away,
which occasions great distress on the frontiers. Had it not
been for forty men, which the province has in pay, in this
township, little of the harvest could have been saved, and as
the time for which they have been engaged, is nearly elapsed,
tlie inhabitants hope the government will continue them in the
service, else the consequences will be dreadful.

* See tax duplicate for 1756, at Lancaster, and page 66 antea.
t See page aotea, 69-70.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 327

The Pennsylvania Gazette of August, 1757, states, — "We
team from Lancaster that there was nothing but murdering and
capturing, that on the 17th of August, one Beatty was killed
in Paxton, that the next day James Mackay was murdered in
Hanover, and William and Joseph Barnet wounded. That on
the same day were taken prisoners, a son of James Mackey, a
son of Joseph Barnet, Elizabeth Dickey and her child ; and the
wife of Samuel Young, and her child ; and that ninety-four men,
women and children, were seen flying from their places, in one
body, and a great many more in small parties, so that it was
feared the settlement would be entirely forsaken."

What rendered their condition still worse, nay hopeless, the
fugitive and remaining inhabitants had no means to engage
forces, rangers or scouters, to apprise them of the approach of
Indians, and repel their incursions; and it was, it seems, in vain
for them to appeal to a deaf government — their only appeal
was to the sympathies of their fellow citizens for aid and means.*
Patriotic individuals, who possessed means, would raise rangers
at their own expense. John Harris, in an adjoining township,
(Paxton) paid thirty men for their services as rangers, in watch-
ing and preventing the inroads of Indians. Harris did this on
more than one occasion.

"On Monday, the 22d of May, Barnabas Tolon was killed
and Scalped in Hanover township. And we are," says the
editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette, " well informed, that one
hundred and twenty-three persons have been murdered and
carried off from that part of Lancaster county, by the Indians,
since the war commenced; and that lately three have been
scalped and are yet living."

The Indians still continued to commit murders and depreda-
tions till December, 1763, when they were seen for the last
time within the limits of Lebanon county.

East Hanover ioivnship is, at present, bounded on the north
and west by Dauphin county; east by Union, and south by
Anville and Londonderry townships. The surface of the coun-
try is diversihed. In the southern portion, it presents gentle de-
clivities; the northern part is mountainous, being crossed by the
Blue mountain and the Second Mountain. There is quite a
noted spring here, called the " Cold Spring," an agreeable wa-
tering place, and considerably frequented in the heat of summer.

* Page 75j antea.

328 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

There is also, a very large and commodious house of entertain-
ment here; it was erected by an enterprizing, and public pa-
tronage deserving gentleman, Samuel Winter, Esq.

In the southern part of the township, is the well known
woollen factory on Indian creek, long owned by Gen. Harri-
son, but now in the possession of Mr. Lemberger.

The township is well supplied with streams affording abun-
dant water power. The Swatara creek, or river, is the princi-
pal one; it rises in Schuylkill county, on the south side of the
Broad mountain, and stealing its way through the Sharp and
Second mountains, enters Lebanon county on the north-east
angle, through which, in its sinuous course, it receives Quito-
pahilla, and other smaller tributaries; thence flows south-west
through Dauphin county, and empties into the Susquehanna
river below Middletown. In its course, through this township,
it affords much water power. The other streams are Indian
creek, Raccoon creek, and Reed's run. In 1840, the township
contained four stores, one fulling mill, one woollen factory, al-
ready spoken of, five grist mills, six saw mills, one oil niill, one
paper mill, one tannery, one distillery. Population in 1830,
2,498; 1840, 2,461. Tax valuation for 1844, $452,674 00;
county tax, $679 01.

The following pensioners were still living in tJiis township
in 1840 — Thomas Koppenhaver, aged 80 years ; John Hetrich,
77 ; Jacob Decker, 84; Philip Witmoyer, 90; John Gerberich,
81 ; James Stewart, S3 years.

It was in this township that the well known Hollenhack was
born — to whom John Harris remarked, twenty or more years
before Harrisburg was laid out, that this place — Harris's Jerry
— would become the centre of business in this section of the
country, and would be the seat of Government of Pennsylva-
nia.— Strong and predictive faith, this.*

Biographical notice of the Hon. Mathias Hollenback.

The subject of this notice, was born of German parentage,
in Hanover township, upon the Swatara creek — then Lancas-
ter— now Lebanon county. Here he was inured to all the

* Napey's Harrisburg Directory for 1842, p. 9,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 329

sufferings and privations incident to a frontier settlement at that
early day. Possessed of a firm and vigorous constitution, and
endued by nature with a strong, active and enterprising mind,
at the age of seventeen he joined the first adventurous party,
who came to make a permanent settlement, under the authority
of Connecticut, in the valley of Wyoming. This was in the
autumn of 1769. From this period, the history of his long
and eventful life, is identified with the history of this part of
the country.

In the controversy between Pennsylvania and Connecticut,
he actively and firmly adhered to the latter, under whose auspi-
ces he had embarked his youthful fortunes, and whose claims
he regarded as paramount to every other, until the right of soil
and the right of jurisdiction to the country were decreed by a
competent tribunal, to be in the former. From that moment,
he yielded obedience to the constitution and laws of Pennsyl-
vania, and contributed ail in his power to quiet the turbulent,
and to reconcile the disaffected to the legitimate authorities.

The dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, had as-
sumed all the characteristics of a civil war, and notwithstand-
ing the conciliatory recommendations and remonstrances of the
Continental Cono-ress, it was continued durincr the revolutionr
ary struggle. Whilst the poor and destitute settlers were suf-
fering on the one side from the common enemies of the country,
the British, the savage Indians, and the icorse than savage
lories, they were attacked on the other, and endured equal dis-
tress, by military parties under the authority of Pennsylvania.

Thus surrounded with difficulties and dangers, calculated to
appal the stoutest heart, at a period too, when many good, but
timid men, doubted, hesitated, and feared — young Hollenback,
in want of every thing, but personal courage and patriotic feel-
ing, was approached by one of those agents of the mother
country, whose bland and fascinating manner, and duplicity of
heart, marked him out as a fit emissary for " treason, stratagem^
and spoil." On the one hand, the effort making to free the
country from British dominion, was represented as entirely
hopeless, and that upon failure, poverty, shame and death,
every where awaited the active partisan; on the other, by
espousing the cause of the British King, money, office and honor
would be immediately conferred, and a life of ease and indepen-
dence secured. The youth stood firm — hfi was not to be allured

28*

330 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

from the path of duty. He had taken his resolution — staked
his all upon the issue — and was willing to abide the result.

In 1776, and the following years, two companies were raised
in Wyoming, in one of which young Hollenback was appointed
Lieutenant. He was active and successful in filling up and pre-
paring his company for active service — and, shortly after, joined
the army under General Washington, in the StateofN. Jersey.
His merits were soon discovered and properly appreciated by
the General, who frequently consulted him in relation to the
frontier settlements, and the means of defending them against
the incursions of the enemy. He participated in all the suffer-
ings of our half fed, and half clothed troops, during the winter
campaign, in the state of New Jersey — and was, on several
occasions, employed by the General in the execution of confi-
dential agencies.

Such was the patriotism of the Wyoming settlers, that, dur-
ing the short period, when they were not immediately threat-
ened with attacks from the enemy, almost every efficient man
among them joined the army, and left their families without
protection. This calm portended a storm. The defenceless
state of the frontier invited aggression. The valley again began
to suffer from the tomahawk, scalping knife, and fire brand —
and early in 1778, it was discovered that a horde of British,
Indians and tories, was collected upon the Susquehanna fron-
tiers, and preparing to pour down upon the valley of Wyoming,
and exterminate the defenceless settlers. The officers from
Wyoming, urged the General 1o send a force for its protection,
or to permit the two companies, drawn from this settlement, to
return, for the purpose of defending their aged and helpless pa-
rents, wives and children. But such was the situation of the
army, that no adequate force could be spared. An intense
anxiety was felt among the officers — some obtained furloughs,
and some resigned and returned to the valley. Every prepa-
ration WHS made in their power, to repel their invaders. About
three hundred and fifty men marched out to meet the enemy.
They were drawn into an ambuscade. The result is known —
Wyoming was reduced to widowhood and orphanage. About
fifty only escaped this disastrous battle, of whom the subject of
this notice was one.

Articles of capitulation were made, in which security and
protection of life and property had been stipulated, were no

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 331

sooner made than they were violated, on the part of the faith-
less enemy. What property could not be carried away, was
burned and destroyed, and the remnant of the settlers was
driven naked and houseless to the surrounding mountains. Lieu-
tenant Hollenback, whose property was all destroyed, still clung
to the valley and participated in all its sufferings, until the
conclusion of the war.

Upon the settlement of the controversy between Pennsylva-
nia and Connecticut — and upon the promulgation of the laws
of Pennsylvania in the disputed territory of 1786, Mr. Hollen-
back was chosen and appointed one of the justices of the courts
of Luzern county; and upon the adoption of the Constitution,
he was re-appointed an associate judge, which office he sustained
with reputation, till the time of his decease. He was honored
with the command of a regiment by his fellow citizens — a mi-
litary officer being almost the only one in Pennsylvania, com.-
patible with that of a judge.

In all the great political struggles which have agitated the
country, Judge Hollenback was actively and firmly attached to
the cause of the people. In a late conflict, although most of
those around him, with whom he had been accustomed to act,
entertained different views, and although he was exceedingly
enfeebled by disease, he procured himself to be carried to the
poll, and there, for the last time, exercised the right of suffrage
in favor of a distinguished individual who succeeded to the
presidency. He was firmly persuaded that the interests of the
country demanded this preference, and he acted accordingly.

It is believed, that he was not a member of any Christian
church, but it is known, that he reverenced the religion of the
cross. Throughout his life, he contributed liberally to the sup-
port of that communion and its pastors, to which he was con-
scientiously attached, and it is feared, it will long feel the want
of his supporting hand.

His life, was a life of temperance, industry, and attention to
his business, the full fruits of which he enjoyed in almost unin-
terrupted health, until his last illness.

From the incidents of his life, the young may draw useful
lessons for the regulations of their conduct, and from his death
all may learn, that man is mortal. That neither riches, nor
honors, nor virtue, nor age, can form any shield against the
fell destroyer.— Haz. Reg.

332 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP.

Derry township organized in 1729, was then bounded as
follows : — "The township of Derry, beginning at the naouth of
Conewago, thence up Susquehannah to the mouth of Suataaro,
thence up Suataaro to the mouth of Quetopohella, thence south
to Conewago, and down the same to the place of beginning."

As then bounded, it embraced all within its limits, known as
the "West End, and the East End of Derry;" or, as subse-
quently called, Derry and Londonderry. Derry was settled
prior to 1720, and about the same tin:ie Avhen the Semples,
Pattersons, Mitchells, Galbraiths, Andersons, Scotts, Lower-
eys, Pedans, Porters, Whitehills and others settled in Donegal.
They were principally Irish emigrants. As early as 1750,
many of them moved to Cumberland county, among whom were
the Works, Moores, Eells, Galbraiths, Whitehills, Hendersons,
Sterrits, Mortons — all early settlers in the east end of Cumber-
land county.

In 1751, the following were taxables residing in the West
End of Derry; —

James Semple, James M'Kee, Joseph Gandor, Thomas Hall,
James Clark, John Allison, James Shaw, Robt. Ramsey, James
Russel, Thomas Boman, James Chambers, James Long, David
Campbell, James Inland, Patrick Down, John Vanher, Robert
Carothers, William Breedon, Charles Neely, Arthur Chambers,
John Tice, John Laird, David Caldwell, Andrew Morrison,
John Thompson, Alexander Felix, Alexander Robison, John
Nicom, John Kerr, William Blackburn, Andrew Lockhart,
David M'Nair, James Wiley, William Drennan, Christian Sad-
dler, William Mitchel, Moses Willson, Michael Hour, Moses
Patterson, James Rdssel, William Sterret, Robert Armstrong,
Valentine Kloninger, Martin Brand, John Singer, Jacob lonan,
John Welsh, Hugh Laird, W^m. Irland, William Boor, James
Harris, James, Russel.

The taxables for 1751, of the East End of Derry, were the
following : —

James Galbraith, James Wilson, James Campbell, James
Walker, John V/alker, Henry Walker, John M'Cord, David

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 333

M'Cord, William Robison, Archibald Walker, David Taylor,
John Over, John Pinagel, William Wilson, James Miller, Wil-
liam Boyd, John M'Cosh, William Sawyers, George Espy,
David Mitchel, Leonard Denie, John M'Culloch, Charles Con-
noy, David Shaiik, David Glenn, Michael Hoover, Hans Bal-
mer, Henry Peters, Hans Kettering, Charles Clark, Thomas
Macky, Andrew Moore, James Foster, Robert M'Clure, Felty
Fillipo, Hugh Hall, Thomas Rutherford, William Rea, John
INI'Quinn, John Rea, Neal M'Callister, Christian Snider, Neal
Dougherty, Thomas Logan, George Miller, John ]\rCallister,
Joseph White, John M'Clelland, Robert Murdock, Moses
Potts, David Johnson, Jacob Rife, Jacob Longenecker, Andw.
Rowan, Hugh Hays, Patrick Hays, John Kerr, Duncan M'Do-
nal, Thomas Willson, James Willson, John Campbell, John
Hays, Widow M'Clan, Widow Sloan, John Maben, Patrick
Kelly, James Duncan, John Duncan, William Hays, John Fos-
ter, Robert Foster, David Foster, Wilson Cooper. John Strean,
John Cochran, Hans Adam Nai, Jacob Seiler, Hugh Miller,
John Godfrey, Thomas Aiken, Anthony Hernsly, Christian
Cochran, Alb^cht Ziegler, Conrad Wisan, John M'Culloch,
John Gingerich, William Miller, John Moore, John Hays,
Thomas Freeman, William Huston.

Though the original settlers, in this township, were princi-
pally Irish, but few of their descendants are residing here ; some
as stated above, settled in the eastern part of Cumberland,
others settled in the western portion, now Franklin county,
called the Conococheague settlements, where are still to be
found — the Campbells, McDowells, Smiths, Barrs, Welshs,
McClellands, Finleys — the ancestors of Gov, W. Finley.

This township being more towards the interior, was not so
much exposed, as the more northern townships, to the incur-
sions of the Indians. Nevertheless, the barbarous savages
penetrated into the more sparsely settled parts, and com-
mitted several murders and effected abductions. June 19, 1757,
nineteen persons were killed in a mill on the Quitopahilla creek ;
and on the 9th of September, 1757, one boy and a girl were
taken from Donegal township, a few miles south of Derry.* —
About the same time, one Danner and his son. Christian
Panner, a lad of twelve years, had gone out into the Conewago
* Loudon's Narrative, ii, p. 200 — 208.

334 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

hills to cut down some trees ; after felling one, and while the
father was cutting a log, he w^as shot and scalped by an In-
dian; and Christian, the son, was taken captive — carried off to
Canada, where he was kept, several years, til] the close of the
war — when he made his escape from them. Another young
lad, named Steger, w-as, while cutting some whoop-poles, sur-
prised by three Indians, and taken captive; but fortunately,
after remaining some months with the Indians, made his es-
cape.

Jacob and Henry Bowman, brothers, both young men, were
taken by some Indians, who tied them in a secluded place, in
the thickets, and proceeded, as was supposed, to the Conestoga
Indians, with a view, when returning from thence, to take them
to Canada ; but in the interim, a Mr. Shally returned from Lan-
caster to Lebanon, and they perceiving him, called him, who
immediately went to the place where they were tied, and un-
loosed them, and they returned to their parents, residing in the
vicinity of the present Palmyra.

So much were the inhabitants constantly alarmed, th-at dur-
ing the Indian troubles, the men attended church with loaded
guns, and other defensive weapons. Their Pastor, the Rev.
Elder, who ministered to their spiritual wants, and coimselkd
them in those perilous times, had then charge of a congregation
in Derry. It is said of him, he was doubly armed ; first by
faith in the certain protection of an all-ruling Providence: se-
cond in his gun, which he had often with him in the pulpit ; for
he was an unerring marksman.

It may be here added, " that the Rev. John Elder, a Scotch-
man, w^as the first clergyman settled west of the Conewago
hills, towards Susquehanna — he preached fifty-six years in the
Paxton church, about two miles from Harrisburg, and for many
years in Derry.

"He wielded the sword of the flesh, though clothed with the
helmet of salvation, as well as the sword of the spirit: for he
held for several years a Colonel's commission in the provin-
cial service; commanding the stockades and block-houses that
extended from the Susquehanna to the Delaware, at Easton.

"It is said, as above intimated, that he often carried his rifle
into the pulpit, and his congregation were prepared in the same
■way against the attacks from the Indians.

"About the year 1756, the church was surrounded by the

HIStORY OF BERKS AKB LEBANON COUNTIESi 835

savages so closely, that, as was afterwards learned from an es-
caped prisoner, the rifles in the church were counted by the In-
dians, but as there appeared to be too many of them, the sava-
ges went off without molesting the congregation. In the year
following, the congregation (at Paxton) was attacked after
they had dispersed, and two or three were killed and others
wounded."

The Rev. Elder died at the advanced age of 86, in the year
1792, on his farm, near Harrisburg, beloved in hfe, and much
lamented by his survivors.

As late as 1763, in July, the reapers in this and other parts
of Lancaster county, took their guns and ammunition with them
into the harvest fields, to defend themselves against the In-
dians.

Londonderry township is bounded on the north by East
Hanover township ; north-east by Annville ; east by Lebanon ;
south by Lancaster county, and west by Dauphin county. It
contains nearly twenty-six thousand acres of land, some of the
best, and some of the worst in the country. The middle por-
tion of the township is level; limestone soil, and some gravel and
slate. The northern part is undulating ; the south and south-
western, hilly and much of it covered with sienite bowlders,
of huge size, and greywacke.

The Swatara creek runs along the northern boundary of this
township, and receives Quitapohilla, a considerable stream,
from the south-east. Klinger's run, a tributary of the latter,
flows northwardly into it. The Conewago creek flows west-
wardly through the township, north of the Conewago hills, on
which is Colebrook furnace, in operation for sixty years. —
It is owned by Mr. Coleman. The Downingtown, Ephrata
and Harrisburg turnpike passes through the township, on which
is Campbellstown, a small village, containing a dozen or two
of houses; and the Reading and Harrisburg turnpike^ on which
is Palmstown, or Palmyra, containing soma twenty houses.
There are several mills ia this township. The improvements
in this township, are generally good. In 1840, the following
pensioners were still living in this township? — Jacob Lentz,
aged 81 ; Jacob Keaner, 86 ; Andrew Robison, 81 years. Popu-
lation in 1830, 1,874; 1840,1,762. Average tax valuation
for 1844, $794,285 00; county tax $1,191 43.

336 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

HEIDELBERG TOWNSHIP.

Heidelberg township originally embraced all that is now
within the limits of Upper and Lower Heidelberg, in Berks
county ; and Heidelberg in Lebanon county, a part of Jackson,
But when Berks was erected in 1752, the greater part then
known as Heidelberg, was taken in with that county.

This township was originally settled by Germans; the first
of whom had either directly emigrated from Germany, or from
the State of New York, where many of them had arrived, in
1710;* thence they emigrated to Pennsylvania, in 1723.

It was within the bounds of Heidelberg township, as first
organized, that the German Baptists — commonly known by the
name, Dunkards, had commenced a settlement as early as 1724.
Many of these first emigrated from Germany and Holland, in
1709, and settled first at Germantown, and some years after-
Ward established a church at Muelbach. One of their promi-
nent members, Conrad Beissel, a native of Germany, arrived
in America, in 1720, and took up his abode among them at
Muelbach — he, and one Stuntz, built a house, and they were
soon joined by Isaac Van Babern, George Steifel, and others.

Conrad Beissel being somewhat dissatisfied with some of the
observances of his brethren, commenced promulgating his
view^s, and eventually seceded from the Dunkard community,
and formed a new sect, known as the German Seventh Day
Baptist,

The following brief sketch of this society, taken from the
History of Lancaster County> will afford the reader some idea
of their rise and progress.

Conrad Beissel, wholly intent upon seeking out the true ob-
hgation of the word of God^ and the proper observances of the
rites and ceremonies it imposes, stripped of human authority,
he conceived that there was an error among the Hunkers, in
the observance of the day for the Sabbath; that the seventh
day was the command of the Lord God, and that day being
estabhshed and sanctified, by the Great Jehovah, forever I And
no change, nor authority for change, ever having been announ-
ced to man, by any power sufficient to set aside the solemn de-
cree of the Almighty; a decree which he declared that he had
sanctified forever ! He felt it to be his duty to contend for tho

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 337

observance of that day. About the year 1725, he published a
tract entering into a discussion of this point, which created some
excitement and disturbance in the society, at Mill creek; upon
which he retired from the settlement, and went secretly, to a
cell on the banks of the CocaUco, that had previously been oc-
cupied by one Elimelich, a hermit. His place of retirement
was unknown for some time to the people he had left, and when
discovered, many of the society at Mill creek, who had become
convinced of the truth of his proposition for the observance of
the Sabbath, settled around him, in solitary cottages. They
adopted the original Sabbath — the seventh day — for public
worship, in the year 1728 ; which has ever since been observed
by their descendants, even unto the present day.

In the year 1732, the solitary life was changed into a con-
venticle one, and a monastic society was established as soon as
the first buildings erected for that purpose were finished. May,
1733. The habit of the Capuchins, or White Friars, was
adopted by both the brethren and sisters ; which consisted of a
shirt, trowsers, and vest, with a long white gown or cowl, of
woolen web in winter, and linen in summer. That of the sis-
ters differed only in the substitution of petticoats for trowsers,
and some little peculiarity in the shape of the cowl. Monastic
names were given to all who entered the cloister. Onesimus
(Israel Eckerlin) was constituted Prior, who was succeeded by
Jaebez, (Peter Miller,) and the title of a Father — spiritual
father— was bestowed upon Beissel, whose monastic name
was Friedsam; to which the Brethren afterwards added
Gottrecht; implying together, Peaceable, God-right. In the
year 1740, there were thirty-six single brethren in the cloister,
and thirty-five sisters; and at one time, the society, including
the members living m the neighborhood, numbered nearly three
hundred.

The first bufidings of the society of any consequence, were
Kedar and Zion; a meeting house and convent, which were
erected on the hill called Mount Zion. They afterwards built
larger accommodations, in the meadow below, comprising a
sister's house, called Saron, to which is attached a large chapel
and "Saal," for the purpose of holding Agapas, or Love Feasts.
A brother's house called Bethania, with which is connected
the large meeting room, with galleries, in which the whole so-
ciety assembled for public worship, in the days of their pros-
29

338 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LfcBANON COtJNtlES.

perity, and which are still standing, surrounded by smaller
buildings, that were occupied as a printing-office, bake-house,
school-house, almonry, and others, for different purposes; on
one of which, a one story house, the town clock is erected.

" The buildings are singular, and of very ancient architec-
ture; all the outwalls being covered with shingles, or clap-
boards. The two houses, for the brethren and sisters, are
very large, being three and four stories high; each has a chapel
for their night meetings, and the main building^: are divided
into small apartments, each containing between fifty and sixty,
so that six dormitories, which are barely large enough to con-
tain a cot, (in early days a bench, and billet of wood for the
head,) a closet, and an hour glassy surrounded a common room,
in which each sub-division pursued their respective avocation. —
On entering these silent cells, and traversing the long narrow
passages, visiters can scarcely divest themselves of the feeling
of walking the tortuous windings of some old castle, and breath-
ino; recesses of romance. The ceilings have an elevation of but
seven feet; the passages leading to the cells, or kammers, as
they are styled, and through the different parts of both con-
vents, are barely wide enough to admit one person, for when
meeting a second, he has always to retreat. The dens of the
kammei's are but five feet high, and twenty inches wide, and
the window, for each has but one, is only eighteen by twenty-
four inches; the largest windows affording light to the meeting
rooms; the chapels, the saals, and even the kammers, or dormi-
tories, are hung and nearly covered with large sheets of ele-
gant penmanship, or ink paintings; many of which are texts
from the scriptures, executed in a very handsome manner, in
ornamented Gothic letters, called in German, Fractur Schrif-
ien. They are done on large sheets of paper, manufactured
for the purpose at their own mill, some of which are put into
frames, and which admonish the resident, as well as the casual
visiter, whichever way they may turn the head. There are
some very curious ones: two of which still remain in the chapel
attached to Saron. — One represents the narrow and crooked
way, done on a sheet of about three feet square, which it would
be difficult to describe ; it is very curious and ingenious : the
Avhole of the road is filled up with texts of scripture, adverting
the disciples of their duties, and the obligations their profession
imposes upon them. Another represents the three Heavens. In

HISTJORY OF BERKS AND LEBABfON COUNTIES. 339

the first, Christ, the Shepherd, is represented gathering his
flock together ; in the second, which occupies one foot in
height, and is three feet wide, three hundred figures in Capu-
chin dress, can be counted, with harps in their hands, and heads
of an innumerable host j and in the third is seen the Throne,
surrounded by two hundred Arch-Angels. Many of these
Fractur-Schriften express their own enthusiastic sentiments on
the subject of celibacy, and the virtue of a recluse life, whilst
others are devotional pieces.

"A rooiji was set apart for such purposes, called ' Das Schreib
Zimraer,' the writing room, and several sisters devoted their
whole attention to this labor, as well as to transcribing the
writings of the founder of the society; thus multiplying copies
for the wants of the community, before they had a printing
press. Two sisterSj named Anastasia and Iphigenia, were the
principal ornamental writers. They left a large folio volume
of sample alphabets, of various sizes and style, which are both
elegant and curious, exhibiting the most patient application.
The letters of the first alphabet are twelve inches long, sur-
rounded by a deep border, in imitation of copper-plate engrav-
ing ; each one of which is different in the filling up. It was
finished in the year 1750, and is still preserved in the hands
of the trustees. There was another transcribing room appro-
priated exclusively to copying music. Hundreds of volumes,
each containing five or six hundred pieces, were transferred
from book to book, with as much accuracy, and almost as much
neatness, as if done with a graver.

"It was in contemplation, at one time, by the Eckerlins,
three brothers, one of whom was a prior, and had the superin-
tendence of the secular concerns, to make it a place of more
importance than a mere religious refuge. They were from
Germany, and had been brought up Catholics. They conceived
a project of erecting extensive buildings, and connecting trades
with it; and had some preparations under way; the timber all
hewn, as all the buildings are of wood, even the chimneys,
which remain in use at this day ; and in readiness to erect a
tower, and had sent to Europe, where they had extensive con-
nexions, and got a chime of bells cast, unknown to the society,
imtil they arrived at Philadelphia, and the bill for payment was
forwarded to them. The society resolved not to receive them,
but had them sold, and paid the loss.

340 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES..

"The coramuity was a republic, in which all stood upon per-
fect equality ancf freedom. No monastic vows were taken,
neither had they any written covenants, as is common in the
Baptist churches. The New Testament was their confession
of faith, their code of law, and church discipline. The pro-
perty which belonged to the society, by donation, and the labor
of the single brethren and sisters, was common stock; but none
was obliged to throw in his own property, or to give up any
possessions. The society was supported by the income of the
farm and grist mill, oil mill, fulling mill, and the labor of the
brethren and sisters, in the cloister."

Many of the male members were men of education, and the
school which they had established, attracted attention abroad;
young men from Ealtimore and of Philadelphia, were sent to
this place to be educated. Ludwig Hacker, the teacher of the
common school, projected the plan of holding a school in the
afternoon of the Sabbath, or Saturday, and who, in connexion
with some of the brethren, commenced it, to give instruction to
the indigent children who were kept from regular school by em-
ployments which their necessities obliged them to be engaged
at during the week, as well as to give religious instruction to
those in better circumstances. The precise time when this
school was established is not known ; it was after 1739.

The society, after an existence of fifty years, began to de-
cline, from some cause, which we have not been able to learn.
Some say that Beissel's successor, Peter Miller, wanted vigor
of mind. This, says Doctor Fahnestock, is not, he believes,
the case ; for he assured us, in a conversation with him on this
subject, in 1836, so far as he could learn, Peter Miller was a
man of much greater powers of mind than Beissel, and that he
had the management of the establishmiCnt during Beissel's time;
and to whose energy and perseverance, is mainlj' attributable
the great prosperity of the institution in its early days.

That Miller was a man of more than ordinary powers of
mind, is evident from the testimony of the Rev. Jedediah An-
drews, an alumnus of Havard College, of the class of 1695,
Andrews speaking of Miller, in a letter, dated Philadelphia,
8th, 14th, 1730.

"There is lately come over a Palatine candidate of the min-
istry, who having applied to us at the Synod (Scotch Synod)
for ordination, 'tis left to three ministers, (these three were Ten-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 341

ant, Andrews, and Boyd,) to do it. He is an extraordinary
person for sense f\nd learning. We gave him a question to disr.
cuss about Justification, and he answered it, in a whole sheet
of paper, in a very notable manner. His name is John Peter
Miller, and speaks Latin, as readily as we do our vernacular
tongue, and so does the other, Mr. Weiss."

At an early period, they estabhshed a German printing office,
which enabled them to distribute tracts and hymns, and after-
wards to print several large works, in which the views of the
founder are fully explained. Many of these books have been
lost and destroyed. In the Revolutionary w'ar, just before the
battle of Germantown, three wagon loads of books, in sheets,
were seized and taken away for cartridges. They came to the
paper mill to get paper, and not finding any there, they pressed
the books in sheets.

" Music was much cultivated. Beissel was a first rate mu-
sician and composer. In composing sacred music, he took his
style from the music of Nature, and the v/hole comprising se-
veral large volumes, are founded on the iEolian harp ; the sing-
ing is the iEoIian harp harmonized ; it is very peculiar in its
style and concords, and in its execution. The tones issuing
from the^choir imitate very soft instrumental music; conveying
a softness and devotion almost superhuman to the auditor.
Their music is set in four, six and eight parts. All the parts,
save the bass, are led and sung exclusively by females — the
men being confined to the bass, which is set in two parts, the
high and the low bass — the latter resembling the deep tones of
the organ ; and the first, in combination with one of the female
parts, is an excellent ^nitation of the concert horn. The whole
is sung on the falsetto voice, the singers scarcely opening their
mouths, or moving their lips, which throws the voice up to the
ceiling — which is not high — and the tones, which seem to be
more than human — at least so far from common church singing
appears to be entering from ab^ove, and hovering over the heads
of the assembly.''

The reader may form some idea of their music from the fol-
lo-v^-ing extract of a letter, written by a tourist during the pro-
prietary administration of Governor Penn: "The counter, treT
ble, tenor and bass, were all sung by women, with sweet, shrill,
and small voices, but with a truth and exactness in time and
intonation, that was admirable. It is impossible to describe to

29*

342 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

your lordship, my feelings upon this occasion. The performers
sat with their heads reclined, their countenances solemn and
dejected, their faces pale and emaciated, from their manner of
living, their clothing exceeding white, and quite picturesque,
and their music such as thrilled to the very soul ; I almost be-
gan to think myself in the world of spirits, and that the objects
before me were ethereal. In short, the impression this scene
made upon my mind, continued strong for many days, and I
believe, will never be wholly obliterated."

This music is lost, entirely now, in Ephrata — not the music
books, but the style of singing — they never attempt it any more.
It is, however, still preserved and finely executed — though in a
faint degree — at Snow hill, in Franklin county, where there is
a branch of the society, and which is now the principal settle-
ment of the Seventh Day Baptists.

This society attracted considerable attention. Men of various
rank and standing visited the place.

George Thomas, formerly an Antigua planter, appointed in
1737, Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, visited Eph-
rata in 1741. He came, says Peter Miller, accompanied by a
retinue of twenty horses, and a large number of distinguished
gentlemen from Maryland and Virginia ; they were all honora-
bly received by the brethren. The Governor said he was much
gratified to see such an institution. He spoke very favorably
of their religious and economical arrangements. The motives
of visit, it is believed, were sinister. Without doubt, he gained
the object of his visit more easily by adulation than he would
have otherwise. At this time, the talented and active Conrad
Weiser, was a member of the association. It was the Gover-
nor's object, if possible, to secure once more the services of this
man, in a capacity for which hs was felicitously suited, that of
an Indian interpreter. He tendered him the appointment of
justice of the peace, which he accepted. He was afterwards
appointed provincial interpreter, in which capacity he rendered
his country essential service for many years. Governor Wil-
liam Denny spent some time here, in 1756, and through an in-
terpreter, hatl a long conversation with Beissel, touching the
condition of the country.

Peter Miller was a native of Oberant Lautern — came to
America in 1730 ; soon after his arrival, was ordained by a
Scotch Synod, at Philadelphia — received as a member of the

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 343

Society at Ephrata, by being baptized in 173o, and remained
sixty-one years, to the day of his death, September 25, 1796,
a member thereof. — His remains rest in the grave-yard at that
place.

He was well known in the religious and literary world. It
is said he translated the Declaration of Independence into seven
languages. His correspondence was extensive — he was visited
by hundreds — General Lee, David Rittenhouse, Count Zinzen-
dorf — and several noblemen of Europe — have been the guests
of the establishment.

The following were taxables in Heidelberg township, a year
after Berks county had been separated from Lancaster county:

Basiian Zimmerman, Abraham Stump, Godfried Louder-
inilch, Martin Kohl, Christian Smith,- Yost Hojfman, Lorentz
Bauman, Philip Kistaker, Jacob Kreider, George Trear, Hen-
ry Gring, John Dootweiler, John Lane, JS'^icholas Fellenherger,
Jacob Durst, James Dutweiler, -Henry Miser, Jacob A''eaf, •
J^%cholas Cress, John Stoler, Joseph Krotzer, John Wolfels-
jmrger, Frederick Wolfel sparger, Peter Woljelsparger, Adam
- Fritz, Barned Mous, Fridreck Miller, Hyronomus Troutman,
Jacob Gishon, Peter Stone, Anthmiy Troser, John Shub, Chris-
tian Orendorf, Peter Edelman, George Conrad, Jacob Green-
inger, Andrew Kreutzer, Philip Breidenbach, Christopher
Moacker, Martin Jfoacker, A'tcholas Miller, Valentine Her-
chelroth, Henry Bassler, Jacob Huy, John Ramler, Jacob
Ramler, John Immel, Michael Spengler, Michael Coppenhef-
fer. Christian Leaman, John Adam Mosser, Tobias Bickle,
Jacob Brown, David Zeller, Henry Zellcr, Geo. Micser, Len-
hard Holstein, Michael Mieser, Andw. Ellig, Jacob Becker,
David Lebenstein, Michael ffrecht, Geo. J\^ejf', Michael JVeff,
Ulri'ch Reasor, Joseph Pugh, Valentine Bowman, Christian
Zwalle, Peter Borger, John Stock, Valentine Veeman, Ab'm
J^eff, Andw. Sholl, Stophel Stuinp, Widow Moore, Jno. Mire,
John Knower, Henry Mire, Wendel Loudermilch, Casper
Rebo, Andw. Reigand, Geo. Cogandoerfer, John Louder7nilch,
Lorentz Arnold, Michael Kapp, Peter Reeyn, Geo. Stoler,
'^ Jacob J^^eff, Mathias Albrecht, Henry Boyer, Lenhard Leidig,
Conrad Heigberger, Daniel Clark, JJlrich Croll, Michael
Schenck, John Grebill, Geo. Sivingle, Martin Thomas, Tho-
mas Durst, Alexander Sheffer, Valentine Urich, Peter Sum-

344 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

me, Ulrich Springer, Christian Miller, Peter Bahler, Stofel
Miller, Jacob Gensly, Peter Miller, Peter Sc/icll, Hermanns
Potorf, John Line, TJiomas Copenhoefer, Christian Walhorn,
Martin Potorf, Wilhelm Hosier, Geo. Lash, Walter Mewman,
JSlcholas Swingle, F. J\''ewman, JIntireas Strickler, John
Fague, Peter Zel/er, Andreas Saltzgcher, John JVull, Peter
Brua, Michael Snider, Martin Eichholtz, Jacob Gass, Nicho-
las Bressler, Dietrict Marker, John Kustcr, John Oxman.

The following resided in the south-east part of the township
of Heidelberg, and on the borders of Warwick:

Dillraan Shite, David Taylor, Moses Irwin, Jacob Hiiber,
Abraham Roland, Jacob Polinger, Ludwig Cole, Simon Tobias,
Yost Blagher, Henry Stiegle, John Pofasberger, Nicholas
Smith, Casper Simon, Martin Shoody, Stephen Beninger, Ja-
cab Selzer, John Timothe, Tobias Hauk, Ealser Shade, Michael
Balmar, Henry Botts, Henry Hoyl, Han Nickle Entsminger,
Han Nickle Entsminger, senr., Henry Wise, Stephen Voacky,
Jacob Gass, Christian Pence, SamuelSellar, Mr. Shoufler, the
tailor. Freemeh— John Sheets, George Lidigh, George Hoyl,
Peter Porgner, Yelia Swally, Jacob Stelly, Ulrich Bare, John
Pile John Bale, George Ougansteen, John Switzer.

There is nothing special that occurred during the French and
Indian war, not common to the townships of this county. The
Indians committed several murders in the northern part of the
township, (now Jackson.) They carried oif several young
children, one of them, named William Jackson, w-as returned,
who had been held captive for some time, in 1762, at Lancas-
ter. An extract of the proceedings of a conference with the
Indians, held at Lancaster in 1762, is given.

Lancaster, August, Friday 13, 1762.
James Hamilton, Esq., Lieut. Governor of Pennsylvania, re-
covered the following prisoners from the hands of King Beaver:
Names of prisoners — Thomas Moore, taken from Potomack,
Maryland. Phihp Studebecker, taken from Conegocheague,
Md. Ann Dougherty and Peter Condon, taken in Pennsylva-
nia, Mary Stroudman, taken from Conegocheague, Pa., Wil-
liam Jackson taken from Tulpehocken, Pa., Elizabeth Adam,
and John Lloyd, from Little Cove, Pa., Dorathy Shabrin, from

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 345

Big Cove, Eleanor Lancestoctes, from Pa., Hans Boyer, a boy,
not known from whence taken. Richard Rogers, Esther
Rogers, Jacob Rogers, Archibald Holtemon, and Rebecca,
Walter, all from Virginia, about the South branch.

^'Thursday, 19 Aug., 1762, the following were delivered:
Elizabeth Williams, a young woman, delivered by Mussause, a
Muncy Indian. Henry Williams, about eighteen years old,
brother to Elizabeth Williams, dehvered by Canyhocherato-
quin, a Muncy. Peggy Dougherty, delivered by Eckgohson,
a Muncy, Mary Tidd and her child, taken near Samuel Depuis,
by Eckgohnson. Abigail Evan and her child, taken at Stony
creek, in Virginia, by Cowachsora, a Seneca.

"A boy by Meightong, a Muncy. A little girl by Eckgoh-
son,'a Muncy. A little boy, Pessewanck, a Muncy. A boy of
about fourteen years, by Eckgohson. A boy of twelve years,
by Cow^ackslaira, a Seneca. A little boy of seven years, by
Coracksaraa, a Seneca. These children's names unknown, as
they cannot speak English, or give any account from whence
they were taken."*

The neighborhood of Sheafferstown was, it is said, originally
settled by German Jews. They were so numerous, at one time,
as to have a synagogue, and a rabbi to read the scriptures and
impart to them other instruction. As early as 1732 they had
3. grave-yard, around which was a substantial stonewall built,
nearly the whole of which is still standing. The cement, or
mortar used, must have been very adhesive, and must have
been made of a larger proportion of lime than is generally
taken; for it is, even now, quite as compact and solid as lime-
stone itself. This grave-yard is about half a mile south of
Sheafferstown — one hundred yards east from the Lancaster
road, and a few hundred yards south of " Thurm-Berg," i. e.,
Tower-Hill — a hill on which William Henry Stiegel had erect~
ed a tower, or castle, which will be noticed below. When this
vicinity of Jewish settlement was pretty well populated, they
left, and Germans of other denominations — Lutherans and Ger-
man Reformed — settled here, among whom was Sheaffer, the
proprietor of the present village.

Sheafierstown — laid out about the year 1745 or '46 — is a
pleasant village, south-east of Lebanon, and contains about one

* Provincial Rec. for 1762.

346 HISTORY OF 3f:ilKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

hundred houses, several stores and taverns — a Lutheran church
built in 1765, and a German Reformed one — both built of
stone. The inhabitants are Germans. It was here, as well as
at Manheim, that the eccentric Baron Stiegel figured strangely.
He was a man of singular fortune — his vicissitudes in life were
varied. In Europe he was a Baron — in America an iron-mas-
ter, glass manufacturer, a preacher, and a schoolmaster — now
rich — then poor ! In SheafFerstown, or hard by it, near the
road to Lancaster, the spot on the hill, is still pointed out,
where stood his tower, or castle — by those who saw the ruins
of it — nothing is left to be seen of it now — which was built by
Ihe notorious German Baron.

Baron Stiegel was undoubtedly, with all his eccentricity, a
man of much enterprise — of great skill in the arts, and of sin-
gular taste, as is still manifest from the house he erected in
Manheim. The house is now occupied by Mr. John Arndt, of
Manheim — and though Mr. Ardnt has, in having the house
materially altered, so changed it, as to leave nothing of the
Baron's pulpit, in a large upper saloon, where the Baron, as
i)reacher, addressed Ids hands, he had employed at the glass
factory, still much to excite admiration is to be seen. What
remains of the internal, as decorations, has not its like in the
United States. Its rich scenery painting, of falconry or hawk-
ino-, on the side of the room w^alls — the tablets of China, curi-
ously painted, the jambs, attract and excite the admiration of
all who have the pleasure of spending a few moments with the
affable owner of the house. Though he was proprietor of
l\Ianheira, and had a fine chateau there, he resided mainly in
Philadelphia with his family, but was occasionally in the habit
of inviting his friends into the country with him, to enjoy his
baronial hospitality. He had two" of these towers or castles
erected, one at Sheafferstown, and another near Manheim —
they were mounted with cannon, for the express purpose of
firing a salute v,'henever he made his appeaiance in the coun-
ty'-

" This salute was the signal for his more intimate friends to

repair to his castle, and enjoy with him the festivities of the
occasion — and for all his workmen, at the furnaces and glass
houses, to wash the dirt from their hands and faces, take up
their musical instruments, and repair to the castle, to entertaiji
their lord and his guests."

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 347

He lived beyond the Competency of his means — he failed ill
business — was imprisoned for debt. A special act was passed
for his relief, December 24, 1774, before the revolution of 177G
had cut "off his resources in Europe."* It is said he died aS
an obscure schoolmaster. Sic transit gloria hominis I

JVewmanstown, which has been noticed, (page 195,) is on
the borders of this township, on the road to Wommelsdorf.

Heidelberg township is bounded on the north by Jackson
township, and by Berks county on the east; south by Lancas-
ter county, and west by South Lebanon township. It contains
thirty-six thousand acres of land, chiefly hmestone, and gener-
ally well improved.

The township has several streams, affording water power to
propel mills. jNIuelbach, or Mill creek, rises in the southern
part of the township, and runs northward, and flows in Tulpe-
hocken creek. In the south-west is Hammer creek, a branch
of the Conestoga.

In 1840, this township contained six stores, one fulling mill,
five grist mills, five saw mills, four tanneries and two distille-
ries. Population in 1830, 2,822; 1840, 2,827. Average tax
valuation for 1844, 8819,496 00; county tax 81,229 25.

SWATARA TOWNSHIPi

Swatara township was originally included in Bethel and
Hanover townships; its boundaries have been changed since
1830, by erecting Union township. On the east it joins Bethel;
Union on the west, and Lebanon on the south. The surface is
diversified; the north and south are hilly; tiie centre level ; soil,
some of it limestone ; the greater proportion gravel and slate,
but generally well improved. It is well supplied with water,
mills, &c.

This township possesses many advantages worthy the atten-
tion of capitalists, as w^ill be seen from the subjoined communi-
cation, addressed to the writer.

* His. Col. of Pa., by Day, p. 421.

S48 History op berks aJjd l'^banon counties,

Jonestown, February 12, 1844;
Respected Friend:

When here, I promised to furnish you something to'uehing
our village, neighborhood, and surrounding country. This pro-
mise, it is my intention, to redeem, though a press of secular
■tingageraents, has hitherto prevented me to give the isubject the
attention it deserves.

I shall begin with the early history of our place. Williams-
'burg — this is the name of the town, now usually called Jones-
town, was laid out into lots by William Jones, about the year
1761. The tract of land on which the town is built, was origi-
nally granted, by warrant, dated the loth December, 1753, by
the Honorable Proprietors, William Penn's sons, of Pennsylva-
nia, to a Mr. Klein, who afterwards conveyed the same to Wil-
liam Jones.

Williamsburg or Joncstoitm, is situated near the forks of the
Big and Little Svvatara, seven miles north-west of the town of
Lebanon, and on the main road leading from Harrisburg to
Easton, on the Delaware river; it is 24 miles east of Harris-
burg, and 77 from Easton; 32 from Lancaster; 31 from Read-
ing, and 31 from both Pottsville and Orwigsburg, in Schuylkill
county. The Big Swatara creek flows on the west of the
town, and the Little Swatara on the south, at the base of Bun-
ker Hill, and both unite within about one-fourth of a mile south
west of the town — thence, with accessions from a number of
tributaries, flow unitedly onward, and empty into the Susque-
hanna river, near Middletown, Dauphin county.

When this region was first settled, and about the time when
Williamsburg was laid out, and for some years afterwards, the
Swatara was considered one of the richest waters for fish, for
its size, in the Province of Pennsylvania. This stream teemed
with the finny race — the scaly salmon, the lubric eel and cat-
fish', the coy shad, the slovenly mullet and sui generis — in
short, " fish of all sorts," were abundant. Even within the
last forty years — about 1804, 5y 6 and 7 — five hundred shad
were taken at a time, at the junction of the Swatara, with a
common brush-net. These were days of no dry fun for us
boys.

So plenty were fish — and some so large, as the old settlers will
have it, that they were speared with a three, and four-tined dung

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 349

fork. But those sunny days for piscators and lovers of fishy

fiin, are past, and it is feared, will never return so long as the
fish are prevented from paying their visits by the interposition
of, the to thena, insurmountable barriers; for numerous mill, and
other dams, have been erected in the Swatara, between this
and Middletown; and as it is generally believed, not made "as
the law directs," if they were, the salmon and shad w^ould not
disdain the waters here. Times have changed. But water
still, naturally, runs down stream, unless forced up !

But to return to the town. It contains one hundred dwel-
ling houses, with a population of five hundred and eleven human
souls. The inhabitants, with exception of a few, are Rank
Germans, of Pennsylvania birth. We have — we speak in com-
mon— several churches; one Lutheran, one German Reformed,
one Union meeting house, for all orderly and well disposed per-
sons, of every denomination, but, at present, principally used as
a place of worship by the United Brethren, and the Evangeli-
cal Association, sometimes called "Albrechts Leute."

To accommodate the town and neighborhood — w^e can accom-
modate— we have six stores, four public houses, an apothecary,
and of course a post office. Four school houses — no Academy
yet — we expect one, if it should be raised on Bunker Hill I —
Two of our school houses were built by individual subscriptions;
and two by the public funds, collected by the Commonw^ealth,
and paid over to us by the same authority. In these last, the
common schools are taught under the law establishing that sys-
tem. These two schools contain one hundred and sixty-five
scholars, with two teachers, that is, one to each school. The
crowed is so great that justice hides itself, and it is vain that
parents look, that justice be done to all — we mean, to all the
scholars and teachers.

For pleasantness of situation, a salubrious air, and conse
quently for health, our place cannot be surpassed; it has also
other advantages. The town is situated on elevated ground —
it commands a prominent eminence. The streets are -wide, in-
tersecting at right angles. It is not alone the ehgible site that
gave rise and progress to Williamsburg. What most contribu-
ted, was the navigation of the Swatara river, on which, from
the time of the original settlements made here, and especially
from the time the town was laid out, a vast quantity of lumber
of all kinds, boards and other building materials were brought
30

350 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

to our place in rafts, floated down the S.watara in the spring/
and in the fall freshets of the year. This raft navigation was
carried on till in August, 1826, when the last rafts were landed.
A stop was now put to it, in consequence of the Union Canal
Company erecting a dam in the Swatara Gap, of immense alti-
tude, for a dam : forty-five feet, is the height of it ! This dam
inundates about eight hundred acres of land; and the pond
forms a complete artificial lake, and proves,, occasionally, a
death-place for some deer, which, to elude the chase of dogs,
take to the deep and are there taken. There are still some
deer in the mountains, not distant from the dam. The way
hunters manage to take deer is, to set their dogs in pursuit of
them, and during the chase, some of the party of the hunters
do take stations near and along the pond or lake; when the
deer are hotly pursued by the dogs, they make for the water,
and thus are taken, in some cases alive, by the hunters.

The dam was constructed to serve as a reservoir, to feed
the canal — it needs feeding, for it consumes much to keep all
its functions moving — and also to answer as a slack water
navigation, for the distance of six miles, towards Pine Grove,
and the coal region. What changes I The tables have verily
turned ! Some years ago, lumber and building materials were
floated down the Swatara to this place — now, similar materials
are brought up^ in boats, on the canal, from Middletown to our
pLice, to Pine Grove, and intermediate places. The lumber
brought down to Jonestown, formerly supphed all Tulpehocken,
and the Muelbachers ! These are reverses to many.

We shall leave the water and the glen awhile, to ascend
"Bunker Hill" — we dont mean "the theatre of the first regu-
lar battle between the Provincial and British troop, in the war
of the Revolution." We too have a Bunker Hill, and also
still amongst us, Revolutionary Soldiers. But, to Bunker
Hill. The prominent and rupic eminence, one half mile south
of the town, is Bunker Hill. It is the highest point of the trap
rock hills. The influence of these hills, says our friend Trego,
Assistant State Geologist, has produced some curious and in-
teresting modifications in the Geological features of the neigh-
borhood.* Basalt and jasper are found here. In "Bunker, is
a cave, or singular cavern, large enough to admit four or five
persons — a small council for emergencies. There is something
* Geog. Pa. p. 274.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 351

curious, as well as grotesque, in and about this rocky chamber.
There is a stone two feet square and three feet high in the
centre, which might have served as a table or altar, this is sur-
rounded with seats of solid stone. In this cavern, tradition has
it — internal evidence favors it — the Indians held councils. —
The orderly arrangement of the massive furniture may have
given rise to the tradition. It is well enough not to contradict
so pleasing and so current a "Sage."

From the top of "Bunker," you have one of the most com-
manding prospects desirable. Place yourself on a rock — you
have choice — look northward, you have a prospect, that presents
a view of the coal regions through Swatara Gap, in the Kittitin-
ny Hills — in this view lies spread before you, and between the
mountain and Jonestown, a fine region of country, of sixty or
more square miles. The eye tires not to view the variegated
scenes — finely improved farms, interspersed with woods, and
dotted with houses and barns. Contemplate on the past. See
in imagination the savage Indians, thirsting for blood, crossing
at Swatara Gap, in pursuit of marked victims. But, turn
from so resiling a subject — wend, your face south — there
rises in view, for miles in extent, a lovely country ; view that,
while I tell you, that Bunker Hill also affords, to old and
young, one of the most pleasant places of retreat and recrea-
tion in the summer season, and especially to the naturalist —
here he can botanize and mineralize, while the carolling of the
songsters of the wood heighten, by their varied notes, his plea-
sures in examining this part of our neighborhood, as to its plants,
minerals, et cetera.

This, no doubt, had been a great place of resort for the In-
dians, on account of the commanding view afforded them of the
country, on either side of the hill. Hundreds of arrow-heads
are still found here, and go far to strengthen the hypothesis, that
this was a common place of resort for the Indians, in all sea-
sons of the year. Passing, it might be stated, that near the
Little Swatara, variegated marble is found.

Other advantages, not generally considered, are to be met
with here. There are some superior advantages for manufac-
turing purposes. I would venture the prediction, to say : —
"This place will some day become a manufacturing town." —
We possess water power in abundance for all such purposes. —
Where need be more for propelling machinaries of all kinds ? —

ODZ HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

The facilities to transport, by canal, all raw materials to, and
manufactured articles, from the place, are certainly not surpas-
sed by any in Pennsylvania. Fuel, essentials to every one and
at all times, is cheap and plenty, and can be readily supplied:
the coal regions being not far distant. Capitalists and enter-
prising manufacturers, would do well to give this place a seri-
ous consideration. The investment would be more than "bank-
sure."

Two miles above the Big Dam, in Swatara Gap, near the
pubHc road, is a beautiful cascade, which, it is confidently be-
lieved, is unsurpassed by any in the interior of the State. Four
miles north of the cascade, on the summit of Sharp Mountain,
is a prominent ledge of rupic projections, resembling very
strikingly, at a distance, a group of houses; from the top of
one of them, if you stand up there, you have a view of the
Susquehanna Gap and Swatara Gap, where these streams, the
former in its majesty rolls its way, and the latter sinuously
steals through an opening in the Blue Mountain.

It is currently supposed — there is some ground for it — that the
Indians were wont to build signal fires here: sort of telegraphs—
for which Morse has a substitute — as they had a regular path
from our neighborhood to Shamokin, which passed html by this
rupic town. These rocks are six miles north of Union Forge,
where Jacob Weidlcr is always found, to hail and receive a
friend. In the language of his favorite, Harrison, — "The latch
string of his door is always hanging out."

Few only of our old settlers, are living. Among them are
the following: Peter Rank, my aged father; George Heilman,
Martin Meiley, John Seltzer, and John Bickel, Esq., the post
master. He has held the office since it was first established in
1802. Comment is not necessary to show his fidelity as a pub-
lic ofl^icer. Col. Valentine Schaufler is an old inhabitant, but
has not resided here as long as some of the af ore-mentioned. —
He is an aged man — ninety-two years old. He was a soldier
in the revolutionary army. I have heard the colonel often re-
late that, during the revolution of '76, he liad been taken pris-
oner by the- Bi itish, and afterwards deserted from them, and
that he w^as obliged to swim several miles to effect his escape.
This, said he, was near New York.

Five miles west from our town, Mr. Adam Harper settled
himself, at an ea^ly period. His location was the most western

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 353

in this county at that time. He was surrounded by Indians.
They had a string of wigwams hard by his house. He kept the
first public house in all this region of country. The place is
still known as "Harper's tavern," on the Harrisburg road.
Near this, in 1755 or 1756, th Indians killed five or six white
persons, not half a mile from Harper's. A woman — a sister
of Major Leidig — was scalped by the Indians, and incredible
as it may appear to some, survived this barbarous act, and lived
for years afterwards. This, however, agrees with what you
stated, when here last winter.

In conclusion — once more to our own pkce. All tradition
says, when this place was first settled, it was noted as a place
for horse racing, gambling, &c., &c. But at present — and for
a number of years past — it has been, and is a very moral place.
Vice and immorality have turned their hideous faces t'other
way. All we need now is a more general diffusion of know-
ledge, by means of Sabbath schools, schools of advanced
standing, and preaching of the gospel in its purity and simpli-
city.

The thought has occurred to me that a well chosen site for
an academy would be '*' Bunker Hill." Its advantages need
no discussion. A trial would, undoubtedly, decide in its favor.
I must close my epistle.

Believe me, I remain your friend,

William Rank.

Swatara township contained a population in 1830 of 1,510 ;
in 1840, 1,056 — part of Union township having since been
taken from it. Average tax valuation for 1844, $416,636,000;
county tax, ^624 96.

ANNVILLE TOWNSHIP.

Annville township was formed out of part of Londonderr^y
.and Lebanon. It is bounded on the north-east by East Hano-
ver township; east by Lebanon; south and west by London-
derry. It contains nearly twenty-two thousand acres of land,
principally level, and of the best limestone quality, and highly
improved. Some portion of it is gravel. Some of the finest

30*

354 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

and best improved farms in the county, are to be met \vith in
this township. Many firm substantial farm houses and bains,
principally of stone, indicative of wealth and taste, can be seen
as one passes along the public roads. Some old tile-covered
houses are still to be seen.

This township is well supplied with streams of water, which
afford abundance of water power for mills, &c. The Swatara
forms the boundary on the north ; the Quitapohila flows through
the township, and receives, in its course, Killinger's run. There
is a forge on the Quitopahila — Meadow run is the name of an-
other small stream in this township.

In 1840 it contained one fulling mill, one woollen factory.
eight grist mills, five saw mills, one oil mil), one distillery, and
eleven stores. Population in 1830, 2,7o6; 1840, 2,649:
average tax valuation of 1844, $915,937 00; county tax
$1,373 98.

The Harrisburg and Reading turnpike passes through this
township. — Millerstown is on it.

Millerstown- — this place was formerly called "Annville," and
was laid out by Messrs. Riegel and Ulrich. It is handsomely
situated, and is a flourishing village on the Quitopahila. It
contains about one hundred and twenty houses, four or five
stores, and the same number of taverns, and the usual handi-
crafts. Several schools — one public school — and an academy,
are in successful operation. It contains several churches.

The names of the first settlers are given when speaking of
Lebanon and Londonderry townships.

It was at this place — Rev. Dr. Dady — the noted impostor,
first commenced, by aid of his fascinating eloquence, to gull the
honest Germans. To show what may be done among a people
believing implicitly — " men untried," — that place is given to
the following. A wholesome lesson may be deduced from it.
When he failed, he tried another region, more genial to his
purposes.

DOCTOR DADY

The following account of that noted impostor, is taken nearly
word for word from that written by the Hon. John Joseph
Henry, and sent by him to Philadelphia with the convicted
impostors. Judge Henry wrote the account from notes taken
at the trial. It follows, in most things, the order of the testi-
mony as given in by the witnesses.

Dr. Dady, who was a German by birth, came to this coun*
try with the Hessians during the American revolution. Posses-
sing a fascinating eloquence in the German language, and being
very fluent in the English, he was afterwards employed as a
minister of the gospel by uninformed but honest Germans.

When the sacerdotal robe could no longer be subservient to
his avaricious views, he laid it aside and assumed the character
of a physician. As such he went to York county, and dwelt
among the poor inhabitants of a mountainous part thereof, (now
within the limits of Adams county,) where, in various artful
ways, he preyed on the purses of the unwary.

Of all the numerous impositions with which his name is con-
nected, and to which he lent his aid, we will mention but two.
The scene of one of them is in what is now Adams county,
where he dwelt ; and of the other in the " barrens" of York
county.

The following is an account of the Adams county imposi'
tion : —

Rice Willams, or rather Rainsford Rogers, a New England-
er, and John Plall, a New Yorker, (both of whom had been
plundering the inhabitants of the southern states by their wiles,)
came to the house of Clayton Chamberlain, a neighbor of Dady,
in July, 1797.

356 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

On the following morning, Dady went to Chamberlain's, and
had a private conversation between Williams and Hall, before
breakfast. After Dady had left them, Williams asked Cham-
berlain whether the place Was not haunted. Eeing answered
in the negative, he said that it was haunted — that he had been
born with a veil over his face — could see spirits, and had been
conducted thither, sixty miles, by a spirit. Hall assented to
the truth of this. In the evening of the same day, they had
another interview with Dady. Williams then told Chamber-
lain, that if he would permit him to tarry over night, he would
show him a spirit. This being agreed to, they went into a
field in the evening, and Williams drew a circle on the ground,
around which he directed Hall and Chamberlain to walk in
silence. A terrible screech w'as soon heard proceeding from a
hlack ghost (!!!) in the woods, at a little distance from the par-
ties, in a direction opposite to the place where Williams stood.
In a lew minutes a white ghost appealed, which Williams ad-
dressed in a lanoruao;e which those who heard him could not
understand — the ghost replied in the same language! After
his ghostship had gone away, Williams said that the spirit knew
of a treasure which it was permitted to discover to eleven men
— they must be honest, religious and sensible, and neither horse
jockeys nor Irishmen.

The intercourse between Williams and Dady now ceased to
be apparent ; but it w^as continued in private. Chamberlain,
convinced of the existence of a ghost and a treasure, was easily
induced to form a company, which was soon affected.

Each candidate was initiated by the receipt of a small sealed
paper, containing a little yellow sand, which was called "the
power." This " power" the candidate was to bury under the
earth to the depth of one inch, for three days and three nights
— performing several absurd ceremonies, too obscene to be de-
scribed here.

A circle, two inches in diameter, was formed in the field,
in the centre of which there was a hole six inches wide and as
many deep. A captain, a lieutenant and three committee men
were elected. Hall had the honor of the captaincy. The ex-
ercise w^as to pace around the circle, &c. This, it was said,
propitiated and strengthened the white ghost, who was opposed
by an unfriendly black ghost who rejoiced in the appellation of
Porapey. In the course of their nocturnal exercises they often

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 357

saw the white ghost — they saw Mr. Porapey too, but he ap-
peared to have "his back up," bellowed loudly, and threw
stones at them.

On the night of the 18th of August, 1797, Williams under-
took to get instructions from the white ghost. It was done in
the following manner: He took a sheet of clean white paper,
and folded it in the form of a letter, when each member breath-
ed into it three times; this being repeated several times, and the
paper laid over the hole in the centre of the circle, the instruc-
tions of the ghost were obtained. The following is a short ex-
tract from the epistle written by the ghost:

"Go on, and do right, and prosper, and the treasure shall
be yours. I am permitted to write this in the same hand I

wrote in the flesh for your direction — O .JJ\. Take care

of your powers in the name and fear of God our protector — if
not, leave the work. There is a great treasure, 4000 pounds
a-piece for you. Don't trust the black one. Obey orders. —
Break the enchantment, which you will not do until you get
an ounce of mineral dulcimer elixiraer; some German doctor
has it. li is near, and dear, and scarce. Let the committee
get it — but don't let the Doctor know what you are about — he
is wicked."

' The above is but a small part of this precious communication.
In consequence of these ghostly directions, a young man named
Abraham Kephart waited, by order of the committee, on Dr.
Dady. The Dr. preserved his eliximer in a bottle sealed with
a large red seal, ami buried in a heap of oats, and demanded
fifteen dollars for an ounce of it. Young Kepharl could not af-
ford to give so much, but gave him thirty-six dollars and three
bushels of oats for three ounces of it. Yost Liner, another of
these wise committee men, gave the Doctor 121 dollars for
eleven ounces of the stuff.

The company was soon increased to 30 persons, many of
whom were wealthy. Among those who were most miserably
duped may be mentioned Clayton Chamberlain, Yost Liner,
Thomas Eigham, William Bighara, Samuel Togert, John M'-
Kinney, James Agnew the elder, James M'Cleary, E-obert
Thompson, David Kissinger, George Sheckley, Peter Wikeart,
and John Philips. All these and many other men were, in the
words of the indictment, " cheated and defrauded by means of
certain false tokens and pretences, to wit : by means of preten-

358 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANOX COUNTIES.

ded spirits, certain circles, certain brown powder, and certain
compositions called mineral dulcimer elixer, and Deterick's
mineral elixer."

But the wiles of these imposters were soon exerted in other
parts. The following is an account of their proceedings in and
about Shrewsbury township, in York county. Williams intima-
ted that he had received a call from a ghost resident in those
parts, at the distance of forty miles from Dady's. Jacob Wis-
ter, one of the conspirators, was the agent of Williams on this
occasion. He instituted a company of twenty-one peisons, all
of whom were, of course, most ignorant people. The same and
even more absurd ceremonies were performed by these people,
and the communications of the ghost were obtained in a still
more ridiculous manner than before. The communications men-
tioned Dr. Dady as the person from whom they should obtain
the dulcimer elixer, as likewise a kind of sand which the ghost
called the " Asiatic sand," and which was necessary in order
to give efficacy to the "powers." Ulrich Neaff, a committee
man of this company, paid to Dr. Dady ninety dollars for
seven and a half ounces of the elixer. The elixer was put
into vials, and each person who had one of them, held it in his
hand and shook it as he pranced round the circle; on certain
occasions he annointed his head with it, and afterwards, by
order of the spirit, the phial was buried in the ground.

Paul Baliter, another of the committee men, took with him
to Dr. Dady's, a hundred dollars to purchase "Asiatic sand,"
at three dollars per ounce. Dady being absent, Williams pro-
cured from the Doctor's shop as much sand as the money would
purchase. In this instance, Williams cheated the Doctor, for
he kept the spoil to himself, and thenee arose an overthrow of
the good fraternity.

Each of them now set up for himself. Williams procured
directions from his ghost, that each of the companies should
despatch a committee to Lancaster to buy " Deterick's mineral
elixer," of a physician in that place. In the meantime Wil-
liams and his wife went to Lancaster, where they prepared the
elixer, which was nothing but a composition of copperas and
cayenne pepper. Mrs. Williams, as the wife of John Huber,
a German doctor, went to Dr. Rose, with a letter dated " 13
miles from Newcastle, Delaware," which directed him how to
sell the article, &c. The enormity of the price aroused the

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 359

suspicion of Dr. Rose. In a few days the delegates from the
committee arrived, and purchased elixer to the amount of
$740 33. When the lady came for the money, she was ar-
rested, and the secret became known. Her husbandj Williams,
escaped.

The Lancaster expedition naving led to a discovery of the
tricks of the impostors, a few days after the disclosures made
by Mrs. Williams, an indictment was presented in the criminal
court of York county, against Dr. John Dady, Rice Williams,
Jesse Miller, Jacob Wister, the elder, and Jacob Wisterj the
younger, for a conspiracy to cheat and defraud. The trial took
place in June following, and resulted in the conviction of Wis-
ter, the elder, and Dr. Dady — the former of whom was fined
ten dollars, and imprisoned one month in the county jail, the
latter fined ninety dollars, and sentenced to two years confine-
ment in the penitentiary at Philadelphia.

Dady had just been convicted of participating in the conspi-
racy in Shrewsbury, when he and Hall were found guilty of a
like crime in Adams county — whereupon Hall was fined one
hundred dollars and sent to the penitentiary for two years, and
Dady was fined one hundred and sixty dollars, and sentenced to
undergo an additional servitude of two years in the penitentiary,
to commence in June, 1800, when his first term would expire.

Thus ended the history of Doctor Dady, who certainly
was not devoid of talent, who possessed a most winning ad-
dress, and was a thorough master in quick and correct discern-
ment of character. He reigned, for a season, with undisputed
sway, in what was then the western part of York county. His
cunning, for a long time, lulled suspicion to sleep. The history
of his exorcisms should teach the credulous that the ghosts
which appear now-a-days are as material as our own flesh. —
His. York Co.

S60 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES*

MILLERSTOWN.

To return again to the vicinity of Millerstown. About one
mile north-east from Millerstown, the first public house, in this
region of country, was kept by the grand-father of Adam Ul-
rich, the present occupant. Mr. Ulrich also kept a small store,
and traded with the Indians, many of whom staid weeks w^ith
him. Mr. Adam Ulrich's father, when a boy, frequently sported
and played with the Indians, in the thickets. It appears there
was a burying ground near Ulrich's house,

One evening, about the year 1756 or '57, Mr. Adam Ulrich's
father, and grandfather, were feeding their cattle, when they
were surprised by the Indians, but fortunately escaped and
eluded the pursuit of them; whereupon, the Indians killed all
the cattle, by cutting out their tongues. This happened on
the farm now owned by Mr. Shenk.

During the late war of 1812, when a praiseworthy spirit
pervaded community to resist British encroachments, and also
to establish manufactories to manufacture goods for our own
consumption, several wealthy gentlemen of Lancaster county,
headed b}' the enterprizing Mr. Hentzelman, erected an exten-
sive cotton and woollen factory, a few miles from Millerstown,
at the enormous expense of J$U6,000 — and for some time car-
ried on business with success, but owing to the ruinous policy
of not protecting American industry — opening our ports wide
for foreign manufactures, they failed. Their goods were con-
sidered equal in quality to any manufactured in the country.

Free foreign importations — either of British goods, or Brit-
ish paupers — will eventually ruin the whole country. Our
country should be protected against both, by wholesome re-
strictions. Our policy is too liberal. It is mis-directed chari-
ty, to open our ports for foreign goods, and foreign paupers,
without salutary restrictions ! I

JACKSON TOWNSHIP.

Jackson township — this township was originally embraced
by Heidelberg and Bethel townships, to which the reader is

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 361

referred for the names of some of the first settlers, a few of
whom had come from Schoharie, in New York, others emigra-
ted directly from Europe. This part of the county was em-
braced, in what is so well known, in the early history of Penn-
sylvania, as the "Tulpehocken settlement," or as the name is
written in the Provincial Records, Turpyhocken.* It was
through this region, that the Indians had their common course,
in carrying their furs and skins from the west to the east, as
may be learned from a proposal made by William Penn, in 1690,
for a second settlement in the province of Pennsylvania. He
says: — "It is now my purpose to make another settlement
upon the river Susquehannagh, that runs into the Bay of Che-
sapeake, and lies about fifty miles west from the Delaware, as
appears by the common maps of the English dominions in
America. There I design to lay out a plan for the building of
another city, in the most convenient place for communication
with the former plantation on the east, which by land is as
good as some already, a way being laid out between the two
rivers very exactly and conveniently, at least three years ago,
and what will not be hard to do by water, by the benefit of
the river Scoulkill ; for a branch of that river lies near a branch
that runs into the" Susquehannagh river, and is the common
course of the Indians with their skins and furrs in our parts,
and to the province of east and west New Jersey, and New
York, from the west and north-east parts of the continent from
which they bring them.f

The Honorable John Evans, Esq., Lieut. Governor of the
Province of Pennsylvania, passed from the Susquehanna,
through here on his way to Philadelphia, in July, 1707, as
may be seen from the following extract from his journal.

" The Governor, with Messrs. John French, William Tonge,
Mitchel Bezaillion, and one Grey, and four servants, set out
from New Castle, the 27th of June, and the next morning ar-
rived at Otteraroe, &c.J

"On Tuesday, 1st July, we went to Conestogoe, and lay
there that night, and the next morning proceeded on our jour-
ney, and arrived in the Evening within 3 miles of an Indian

* Mill. Prov. Council ii, 19G.

t Haz. Reg., vol. i, p. 400.

I Minutes o/Prov. Coun. ii, 401, — -5.

31

362 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Village, called Peixtan. The Govr. had received InformatioiS
at Pequehan, that one Nicole, a ffrench Indian Trader, was at
that place, agst. whom great Complaints had been made to the
Govr. of wdiich he acquainted the Chief Indian of Peixtan, as
also of his design to seize him ; w^ho willingly agreed to it, but
advised the Govr. to be very cautious in the manner: there
being only young People at home, who perhaps might make
some Resistance, if it were done without their first being told
of it; for this reason we lay short of the Village that night;
but Early in the morning we w^ent within half a mile of the
Town, & leaving our horces, march'd a foot nearer the
same; from whence the Govr. sent Martine to the Village :
Ordering him to tell Nicole that he had brought 2 Caggs of
Rum with him, which he had left in the woods, for fear any
Christians were there; and withal to perswade Nicole to
go with him and taste the Rum. Martine returned with
James Letort, & Joseph Jessop, 2 Indian Traders but could
not prevail with Nicole ; upon this, Martine was sent back with
Orders to bring down some of the Indians, and Nicole with
them: then we drew^ nearer the Town, and laid ourselves in the
bushes, and Martine returned with 2 Indians, whom the Govr.
acquainted wdth his intent of taking Nicole, telling at the same
time, he had spoken with to the Uncle of one of them
upon that head, who ordered the Indians to submit to the
Govrs. Commands, with wdiich they were contented, tho' we
perceived too well the contrary, by their inquiring how many
"we were, and how armed ; and by the Concern they seemed to
be in, when they found w^e were more men m number than they :
but still Nicole was wanting; it was therefore Resolved to
try once more if he could be got into the w'oods, according-
ly Martine went again, and brought Nicole to the place wdiere
we lay concealed, and asking him to Drink a dram, he seized
him ; but Nicole started from him and run for it, when imme-
diately we started out and took him, and presently carried him
to the Village, (thro' wdiich we w'ere obliged to pass,) and
there we found some Indians with Guns in their hands, who
lookt much displeased at wdiat we had done, but we being in a
readiness against any surprize, they thought it not fit to attempt
any thing; here w'e stayed abot. half an hour, and then parted
for Turpyhocken; having mounted Nicole upon a horse, and
tied his legs under the Belly ; we got within a mile of Turpy-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 363

hocken about 2 of ye Clock, on fryday morning, and about 7
the Govr. went to the town, from thence we went to Mana-
tawny that night, & the next day to Philadelphia."

During the French and Indian war, from 17-55 to 1760, the
inhabitants of this township, in common with many others, were
repeatedly alarmed by the Indians. Several murders were
committed by them within the borders of this township. On
one occasion many of the inhabitants of this and adjacent town-
ships, met at the house of Benjamin Spycker's, near the pre-
sent site of Stouchstown. There, a company consisting of ris-
ing of three hunched men, went in pursuit of the Indians, most
of them well armed, though about twenty of them, had nothing
but axes and pitchforks — all imanimously agreed to die toge-
ther, and engage the enemy, wherever they should meet them.
This happened in October 1755.*

In this, as well as other townships, there were several block
houses, or forts, to which, in cases of emergency, the inhabit-
ants would flee. There was one — we were informed by Mr.
Breitenbach, on the farm now owned by him — a short distance
east of Myerstown.

Philip Breitenbach, father of Mr. Breitenbach mentioned
above, came from Germany — in 1754 he purchased the tract of
land, on which a fort was afterwards erected, from Martin
Noacker. Philip Breitenbach was wont, on many occasions of
alarm, to take his drum and beat on an eminence near his house,
to collect the neighbors from work, into the fort. On one oc-
casion, the Indians pursued them close to the house, when one
ef the inmates took up a gun, and shot the Indian dead on the
spot.

Jackson township is bounded on the north-east by Berks
county — on the south by Heidelberg township, and on the west
by South and North Lebanon, and Bethel townships ; and con-
tains nearly fifteen thousand acres of first rate land — limestone
soil, and the surface is generally very level. The improvements
are very firm. Buildings are — many of stone — large and com-
modious.

This township is crossed by both the Reading and Harris-
burg turnpike, and Union Canal. Tulpehocken creek, and the

* See Conrad Weiser's letter to Governor Morris, p. 43 — 44 antea.

364 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Swatara, are the principal streams, affording water power for
mills, &c. In 1840, this township contained three grist mills,
one saw mill, two tanneries, two distilleries, four stores, and
two lumber yards. Population in 1830, 2,120 ; 1840,2,508.
Average tax valuation for 1840, $1,031,326; county tax
$2,546 99.

Myerstown, on the Reading and Harrisburg turnpike, seven
miles east from the town of Lebanon, was laid out by Isaac
Myers about seventy-five years ago. The locality is quite a
pleasant one. The country around it is certainly not surpassed
by any in the State, for fertihty of soil.

The town has been much improved within the last twenty
years. It contains several fine buildings; among others, the
Lutheran church, built in 1812, which, in its way, makes a
"modest" appearance. All the useful branches are taught
here — with what success, it has not been stated to the writer-
It is supplied with a School Library. This is a good feature
in the general plan.

The Evangelical Association is erecting a house for pubhc
worship here. Sunday schools, and other schools are pretty
well attended. The population exceeds 700 souls. Somethrea
or four buildings are being put up at present.

UNION TOWNSHIP.

Union township has been erected within a few years, out of
the contiguous townships. It has East Hanover on the west,
and Swatara township on the east. The Big Swatara creek
is its principal stream.

Fort Smith, it is believed, was in this part of the country,
within the limits of Union township. Not a few seem to
think, each of them has the honor of having it perpetuated,
that Fort Smith was on his farm. Some with whom we have
conversed, locate it at Union Forge. An intelligent gentleman,
Jacob Weidler, Esq., in a communication of Feb. 13, 1844,
says: — "The following facts I obtained from Mr. Daniel Mus-
ser, who is nearly seventy years old. He suggests that there
may .probably be an error to locate Fort Smith, where Union
Forge is, Mr. Musser's maternal grandfather, Peter Hey-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 365

drich, who emigrated from Germany and located, previous to
1738, about three-fourths of a mile due north from this place,
it appears, owned the place on which Fort Smith was erected.
My informant says, he knows that a fort had been erected on
his grandfather's farm, to which, in great emergencies, the
neighbors fled for safety.

The persons whom Mr. Musser remembers of having heard
of that resided in this township, as old settlers, were Mr. No-
acre or Noecker, who was shot dead in his field while plough-
ing, on the farm now owned by John Zehring. He says that
one Philip Maurer was shot dead while cradling oats on the
farm now occupied by John Gross. Martin Hess, who escaped
unhurt, his house also had been a place of refuge — often half a
dozen of families would resort to Hess's house, which was
about one mile south-west from Peter Heydrich's, and a half a
mile west from this place. Mathias Eoeshore (your mother's
relative) was also an old settler, who, on one occasion retreated
from the enemy, the Indians, towards Hess's. Just as he had
got inside the house, seized his gun, and turned upon his pur-
suers, levelling his deadly weapon at them, and while in the
act of drawing the trigger, he received a shot from an Indian,
which wounded him but slightly. The bullet of one savage's
gun struck that part of Boeshore's rifle, to which the flint is
attached; the ball glancing a little to one side, wounded him
in the left side. Eoeshore lived to be a very old man.

The land on which this fort was erected, is now owned by
widow Elizabeth Shuey. 'J he old people are unanimous in lo-
cating the fort on Mrs. Shuey 's farm, at that time the property
of Peter Heydrich. None of them seems to know that the
house on Mr. Weidman's place here was ever used as a fort.
May it not, like the house of Mr. Hess, have been only a kind
of blockhouse ; as the house of Hess, as well as the one here,
has also some apertures, or port holes, which were evidentl}
used to fire out upon the enemy ?

Of Peter Heydrick, it is related, that on a certain occasion,
the Indians appeared in great numbers — and nearly all the
neighbors being in their own houses — Heydrich gave imme-
diate notice to the people to resort to the fort, and in the mean-
time, (having both fife and drum in the fort, and could beat
and fife well) took the drum and fife, marched himself into the
woods or thickets, now beating the drum, then blowing the

31*

366 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

fife; then and again gave the word of command, lovd and dis-
tinct, as if it had been given to a large force — though he was
the only one to obey orders — by this Guerre de ruse, slight of
war, he managed to keep the savages away, and collect his
neighbors securely. JYoth bricht Eisen.

The following letter from the pen of Adam Reed, Esq., da-
ted in Hanover, Oct. 14, 1756, may cast some additional light
on this point. The letter was addressed to Edward Shippen,
Esq., and others.

" Friends and Fellow Subjects :

I send you in a few lines, the melancholy condition of the
frontiers of this county. Last Tuesday, the 12th inst., ten In-
dians came on Noah Frederick, while ploughing, killed and
scalped him, and carried away three of his children that were
with him — the eldest but nine years old — and plundered his
house and carried away every thing that suited their purpose;
such as clothes, bread," butter, a saddle, and a good rifle gun,
&c. — it being but two short miles from Captain Smith's fort,
at Swatara gap, and a httle better than two miles from my
house.

Last Saturday evening, an Indian came to the house of Phi-
lip Robeson, carrying a green bush before him — said Robeson's
son being on the corner of his Fort, watching others that were
dressing, flash by him — the Indian perceiving that he was ob-
served, fled; the watchman fired, but,missed him. This being
about three-fourths of a mile from Manady Fort ; and yester-
day morning, two miles from Smith's Fort, at Swatara, in
Bethel township, as Jacob Farnwal was going from the house
of Jacob Meyhn to his own, was fired upon by two Indians,
and wounded, but escaped M'ith his life; and a little after, in
said township, as Frederick Henly and Peter Sample were car-
rying away their goods in wagons, were met by a parcel of
Indians, and all killed, lying dead in one place, and one man at
a little distance. But what more has been done, has not come
to my ears — only that the Indians were continuing their mur-
ders !

The frontiers are employed in nothing but carrying off their
effects ; so that some miles are now waste I We are willing,
but not able, without help — you are able, if you be willing.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 367

(that is including the lower parts of the county) to give such
assistance as will enable us to recover our waste land. You
may depend upon it, that without assistance, we, in a few days,
will be on the wrong side of you ; for I am now on the frontier,
and I fear that by to-morrow night, I will be left two miles.

Gentlemen, consider what you will do, and donH he long
about it; and let not the world say, that we died as fools died !
Our hands are not lied, but let us exert ourselves, and do some-
thing for the honor of our country, and the preservation of our
fellow subjects. I hope you will communicate our grievances
to the lower parts of our country ; for surely they will send us
help, if they understood our grievances.

I would have gone down myself, but dare not, my family
is in such danger. I expect an answer by the bearer, if pos-
sible.*

I am, gentlemen.

Your very humble servant,

Adam Reed.

p. S. Before sending this away, I would mention, I have
just received information, that there are seven killed and five
children scalped aUve, but have not the account of their names.

A considerable portion of this township is hilly. The soil
gravel and sienitic, some yellow shale and limestone, all of
which is susceptible of high improvement. Average tax valua-
tion, $178,890 00; county tax mSS M.

* Provincial Records, P., p. 69.

CHAPTER 11.

GENERAL STATISTICS OF LEBANON COUNTY

PRODUCTS OF THE MINE.

Products of the mine are iron, manufactured into cast and
bar iron. There were, according to the census of 1840, three
furnaces in the county, and they produced three thousand and
twenty tons of cast iron ; three bloomeries and forges, which
produced two hundred and ninety-seven tons of bar iron ; the
furnaces and forges consumed six thousand one hundred and
eight tons of fuel — employed two hundred and thirty one riaen,
including m.ining operations — capital invested, two hundred and
thirty-three thousand dollars.

LIVE STOCK.

Live Stock. — Five thousand and fifty-six horses and mules ;
fourteen thousand seven hundred and eighty -one neat cattle;
ten thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven head of sheep;
thirteen thousand seven hundred and eighty swine; poultry of
all kinds valued at seven thousand one hundred and thirty-five
dollars.

CEREAL PRODUCTIONS.

Cereal productions. — Wheat, two hundred and fifteen thous-
and four hundred and twenty-eight bushek; two hundred and

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

36a

forty-five bushels of barley ; oats, two hundred and thirty-two
thousand six hundred and two bushels; rye, one hundred and
forty-seven thousand two hundred and fifty-four bushels; eight
hundred and thirty-live bushels of buckwheat; two hundred and
thirty-nine thousand and thirty-one of Indian corn.

VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

Various other agricultural products are: fourteen thousand
nine hundred and forty-three pounds of wool raised ; one hun-.
dred and one thousand six hundred and thirty-two bushels of
potatoes; sixteen thousand five hundred and sixty tons of hay;
one hundred pounds of silk cocoons ; six thousand nine hundred
and thirty-three cords of wood sold.

THE DAIRY.

Value of the products of the dairy, twenty-six thousand five
hundred and twenty-two dollars. The value of the products
of the orchard, six thousand one hundred and twenty-three
dollars ; fifty gallons of wine manufactured. Home made or
family goods made, nine thousand seven hundred and twenty-
two dollars.

COMMERCE.

There were fifty-eight groceries and stores, with an aggre-
gate capital of two hundred and forty-one thousand nine hun-
dred dollars; seven lumber yards, capital invested twenty-four
thousand five hundred ; employed one hundred and twenty eight
men. Thirty-five persons were employed in internal transport
tation.

MACHINERY.

The value of machinery manufactured was estimated at six
thousand dollars, and employed twenty-six men. Hardware
and cutlery, two hundred dollars — employed three men. Bricks
and lime, twenty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars;
two hundred and eleven men employed. Capital invested in the
preceding manufactories, sixteen thousand nine hundred and ten
dollars.

'J70 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

MANUFACTORIES.

The county is pretty well supplied with factories; four ful-
ling mills, two woollen factories; value of manufactured goods
produced, four thousand one hundred and eighty dollars; thirty
persons employed ; capital invested, one thousand four hundred
and eighty dollars.

Silk has received some attention, nmety pounds of reeled
silk were raised, valued three hundred and eighty dollars; era-
ployed six males and five females; capital invested limited, only
iifty-two dollars. The value of manufactured goods, eleven thou-
sand and thirty-four dollars; persons employed, three hundred
and eighty-three ; capital invested, five thousand four hundred
and fifty-one dollars. The raising of tobacco has received some
attention — the value of .the manufactured article amounted to
five thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars; employed twen-
ty-six men; capital invested, three thousand and seventy-five
dollars

Value of hats and caps manufactured, eleven thousand nine
hundred dollars; nineteen persons employed ; capital invested,
five thousand five hundred and fifty dollars.

TANNERIES, &C.

Tanneries, there were twenty two ; tanned four thousand six
hundred and sixty-six sides of sole leather; two thousand eight
hundred and twenty-five sides of upper leather; fifty-two men
employed ; capital invested, forty-six thousand eight hundred
dollars. There were twenty-nine saddleries; value of manu-
factured articles, estimated at thirty-four thousand four hun-
dred and fifty; capital invested, fifteen thousand seven hundred
and sixty-four dollars.

SOAP AND CANDLES MANUFACTURED.

Soap, three thousand six hundred and eighteen pounds ; tal-
low candles, seven thousand two hundred and twenty-five dol-
lars— employed one hundred and thirty-seven — capital invested,
one thousand seven hundred and seventy dollars.

HISTORY OF BERKS AJJD LEBAJJON COUNTIES. 37l

DISTILLED AND FERMENTED LIQUORS.

Twelve distilleries were in operation in 1840, which pro-
duced seventy-three thousand five hundred and twenty gallons ;
two breweries made twelve thousand two hundred gallons of
beer — the distilleries and breweries employed twenty-four men;
capital invested, fourteen thousand three hundred and fifty gal-
lons.

VALUE OF MEDICINES, DRUGS, &C.. &C.

One thousand and fifty dollars. Five potteries produced hi
value, one thousand eight hundred dollars — employetl eight
men — capital, seven hundred and seventy-five dollars. One
sugar refinery — value of produce, one thousand two hundred
dollars. Confectionaries made to the value of twelve thousand
dollars — four men employed — capital, six thousand dollars,

PAPER MANUFACTURED, &C.

There was one paper manufactory — value of produce, six
thousand dollars — five men employed — capital, three hundred
dollars. Four printing offices — three weekly newspapers pub-
lished and one periodical — thirteen men employed — capital, ninf-
thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.

CARRIAGES AND W^AGONS.

Were manufactured to the value of thirteen thousand and forty
dollars — employed fifty-eight men — capital invested, seven
hundred and fifteen dollars.

MILLS, &C.

The number of grist mills was thirty-seven, which manufac-
tured two thousand six hundred and ninety barrels of flour.
Saw mills, twenty-four. Two oil mills. The value manufac-
tured of saw and oil mills, was forty-three thousand two hun-
dred and ninety-three dollars — employed seventy-eight hands —
capital invested, seventeen thousand nine hundred and sixty-five
dollars.

372 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

The number of brick and stone buildings built in 1840, was
twelve, and twenty-two of wood — employed one hundred and
nineteen men.

All othei- Manufactures not enumerated above, amounted in
value to one hundred and seventeen thousand two hundred and
fifty-nine dollars — capital invested twenty-two thousand three
hundred and seventy dollars. Total capital invested in all the
manufactories, was one hundred and ninety thousand eighty-
seven dollars.

POPULATION.

jTAe Population of Lebanon county in 1840j was as follows :

Ffee white males under 5, one thousand eight hundred and
Seventy-seven; of 5 years and under 10, one thousand five
hundred and thirteen; of 10 and under 15, one thousand four
hundred and seven; of 15 and under 20, one thousand two
hundred and ten; of 20 and under 30, one thousand seven
hundred and eighteen ; of 30 and under 40, one thousand one
hundred and sixty-three ; of 40 and under 50, nine hundred
and five ; of 50 and under 60, four hundred and ninety-nine ;
"80 and under 70, two hundred and eighty; of 70 and under 80,
one hundred and twenty-six; of 80 and under 90, thirty-four;
of 90 and under 100, one.

Free white females under 5 years, one thousand eight hun-
dred and four ; of 5 and under 10, one thousand five hundred
and sixty two; of 10 and under 15j one thousand two hundred
and seventy- six; of 15 and under 20, one thousand two hun-
dred and ninety-seven; of 20 and under 30, one thousand nine
hundred and nineteen ; of 30 and under 40, one thousand one
hundred and seventy ; of 40 and under 50, eight hundred and
eighty-six* of 50 and under 60, five hundred and seventy-nine;
of 60 and under 70, three hundred and thirty-eight ; of 70 and

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 373

under eighty, one hundred and sixty ; of 80 and under 90, forty ;
of 90 and 100, five.

Colored Persons. — Colored males under ten years, 17 ; of
ten and under twenty-four 10 ; of twenty-four and under thirty-
six, 9; of thirty six and under fifty-five, 10; of fifty-five and
over one hundred, 4; colored females under ten, 19; often and
under twenty-four, 11; of twenty-four and under thirty-six, 9;
of thirty-six and under forty-five, 11 ; of fifty-five and under one
hundred, 3. Total population of Lebanon county, 21,872; of
these 27 are engaged in mining ; 2,205 in agriculture ; 122 in
commerce; 4,324 in manufactures and trades; 2 in navigation
on the ocean; 130 in the navigation on canals; 47 of the learned
professions; 30 pensioners; of the borough of Lebanon, namely:
George Hess, aged 79; Swatara, Peter Witraoyer, 80; Anna
Barbara Yeagley, 78; Peter Sailor, 77; John Shalley, 79; Ja-
cob Heim, 74; John Bickel, 88; Valentine Shoufler, 88 ; Mar-
tin Meily, 68 ; George Heilmen, 81 ; East Hanover, Thomas
Kopenhaver, 80; John Hetrich, 77; Jacob Decker, 84; Philip
Witmeyer, SO; John Garberich, 81; James Steward, 83 ; Lon-
donderry, Jacob Lentz, 81; Adam Trist, 80; Jacob Keaner,
Andrew Robeson, 8i; Heidelberg, George Wolf, 79; Marga-
retta Leob, 79; Elizabeth Derr, 81 ; Lebanon, Andrew Hoover,
7o ; Dilman Doup, 81; Mary Weaver, 75; Bethel, Catharine
Walborn, 85; Jackson, Mary Bainny, 75; Rebecca Bowers,
74; John Smith, 86.

Six deaf and dumb persons of 11 years and under 14; four-
teen of 14 years and under 25 ; nineteen of upwards of 25
years; sixteen blind persons; twenty-six insane and idiots.

EDUCATION.

Four academies, one hundred and fifty-four scholars; thirty-
six primary and common schools, one thousand three hundred
and twenty-seven scholars; four hundred and twenty-four
schooled at public expense. There are six hundred and eighty-
nine white persons over twenty years of age, who cannot read
and write.

32

CHAPTEK IIL

GEOLOGY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

In giving an account of the geology of a small district of a
country, it requires, to enter minutely into it, a larger space
than the design of this compilation will admit. Nothing origi-
nal is presented. What is given, is from the pen of that dis-
tinguished and accomplished writer, the author of the Geogra-
phy of Pennsylvania, a book that should be in every family in
the State.*

BERKS COUiJTY.

The geological character of this county is various in its dif^
ferent parts. On the southern border is the red shale of the
middle secondary series ; in the upper or northern portion of this
red shale, the calcareous conglomerate rock, called Potomac
marble, is abundant in several places, particularly near the
Schuylkill below Reading. North of this are the hills of the
South mountain range, which contain gneiss, sienite, and other
primary rocks, together with the hard whitish sandstone which
overlies the primary. Several of the httle valleys interspersed
between these hills, contain irregular belts of limestone. —
Northward of this chain of hills is the great limestone formation
of the Kittatiny valley, which extends along its south-eastern
side from the Delaware river to the Maryland hne ; and adjoin-
ing it on the north, reaching to the Blue mountain, is the slate
formation next in position above the limestone, which is equally
extensive in its range. At several places in Berks county the

* The Geography of Pennsylvania by Charles B. Trego, Esq., Assistant
State Geologist, published by E. C. Biddle, Philadelphia.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 375

limestone contains belts of slate of considerable thickness, and
in the neighborhood of Bernville and Womelsdorf, the Hmestone
and slate Ibrmations appear to have no distinct line of division,
but alternating strata of both are found. A dike of trap rock
extends northward across the limestone, east of Sinking spring,
crossing the Tulpehocken near the mouth of Cacoosing creek,
and extending northward into the slate region.

Iron ore occurs in several parts of the county. At Mount
Pleasant, in Colebrookdale township, the magnetic variety of
ore has been mined to some extent, and is found in other places
connected with the primary rocks. In Oley township, and
near Boyerstown, are mines which were formerly worked for
the supply of furnaces in tl>at neighborhood. Brown argilla-
ceous iron ore occurs near Kutztown, and at Moselem it is ex-
tensively mined, as also near the Lebanon turnpike, about eight
miles west of Reading. A rock yielding hydraulic cement of
good quality, is found near the Schuylkill, from which that ar-
ticle is manufactured in considerable quantity for use. Copper
ore occurs at several places within the county, but generally in
such small quantity and so mixed with iron as to render the ex-
pediency of working it very doubtful. Near Morgantown is a
mine of this character, which is not at present in a productive
state.

LEBANON COUNTY.

Being situated mostly within the Kittatiny valley, the phy-
sical features and geological character of this county, are simi-
lar to those of Berks and Dauphin, between which it lies. —
Along the southern border nve hills of sandstone and trap rock,
and in the same region we find the middle secondary red shale,
extending northward from Lancaster into the edge of Lebanon.
North of this is a broad belt of the valley limestone ex-
tending to a line nearly parallel with, and a little north of the
Reading, Lebanon, and Harrisburg turnpike, where it joins the
slate formation. The next western part of Berks county,
thin strata of limestone frequently occur, and belts of the slate
are observed which are red, brown and yellow, thus differing
from the general dark bluish colour of this formation. In the
northern part of the slate region are some thick beds of coarse
gray sandstone, occasionally containing imbedded pebbles.-^r-

376 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

These may be observed in the hills on both sides of the Swa-
tara creek, about three miles aboA'e Jonestown. Near Jones-
town, on the south, are hills of trap rock, the influence of which
has produced some curious and interesting modifications in the
geological features of the neighborhood.

The northern part is mountainous. Proceeding northward
from the Blue mountain, to the county line on the Fourth moun-
tain, we pass, in succession, over the intermediate formations
between the sandstones of the Blue mountain (IV,) and those
of the Second mountain (X). In the valley of Stony creek is
the red shale, (XI,) and above it, in the Third and Fourth
mountains, the pebbly conglomerate, and sandstone (XII) next
below the coal. In the narrow trough between these two
mountains is the extended south-western point of the Pottsville
coal basin.

Magnetic iron ore is found among the hills in the southern
part of the county ; it is mined at Cornwall, where specimens
have been obtained yieldmg 70 per cent, of metallic iron. In-
dications of other varieties of iron ore occasionally appear, and
in the limestone formation argillaceous and pipe ore has been
dug in several places.

NOTES.

The Roman numericals IV, X, XI, and XII, refer to, and
exhibit the order of stratification of the lower secondary forma-
tions of Pennsylvania, east of the Susquehanna.

For the information of those who have not the State Geolo-
gist's Reports, the following extracts are indispensable to under-
stand the preceding article.

IV. This stratification consists of hard white and gray sand-
stones, and coarse massive conglomerates — contains impres-
sions of several species of fucoides.

X. White and gray silicious sandstones, with dark bluish
and olive colored slates, also coarse silicious conglomerates, al-
ternating with gray, yellow and white sandstones, and bands
of black carbonaceous slate ; the latter is sometimes erroneously
taken for coal slate.

XI. Red shales and soft argillaceous red sandstone, and oc-
casional beds of compact silicious, red and gray sandstones;
also a few thin calcareous bands.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 377

XII. Coarse quartzose conglomerates, alternating with white
and gray sandstones, and occasional thin beds of dark carbona-
ceous shale. — Second Annual Report of the Geological explo'
ration of the State of Pennsylvania, by Henry D. Rogers.
1838.

32*

CHAPTER IV.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

The internal improvements in, and passing through these two
counties, were made by associated individuals, as incorporated
companies, or by the Commonwealth. These shall be briefly
noticed.

UNION CANAL.

In the year 1690, WiUiara Penn issued proposals for a se-
cond settlement or city in the Province, upon the Susquehanna
river. In the proposals then made, he alludes to the practi-
cability of connecting, by canal, a water communication be-
tween the city of Philadelphia, and the city to be, in future.,
erected on the banks of the Susquehanna. "It is now," says
Penn, "my purpose to make another settlement, upon the river
Susquehmagh, that runs into the bay of Chesapeake, and bears
about fifty miles west from the Delaware, as appears by the
common maps of the English dominion in America. There I
desio-n to lay out a Plan for building another city, in the most
convenient place for the communication with the former plan-
tations in the east: which by land, is as good as done already,
a way being laid out between the two rivers, very exactly and
convisniently, at least three years ago; and which will not be
hard to do by water, by benefit of the river Scoiilkill; for a

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 379

Branch* of that river lies near a Branchj that runs in the Sus-
quehannagh river, and is the common course of the Indians with
their skins and furrs into our parts, and to the provinces east
and west Jersey, and New York, from west and north-west
parts of the continent from whence they bring them."

Turnpikes and Canals were not known in England at that
time. It is acceded that Pennsylvania is entitled to the credit of
having first directed public attention to canals and turnpikes in
the United States. David Rittenhouse, the Astronomer, and
William Smith, D. D., provost of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, were the first movers in this matter.

Afterwards Robert Morris, the financier of the revolution,,
and still later Robert Fulton, the engineer, of whom Pennsyl-
vania is justly proud, lent their powerful assistance. The
writings of Turner Camac, William J. Duane, and Samuel
Breck, Esqs. ; and subsequently of Gerard Ralston, Richard
Peters, Jr., Matthew Carey, Samuel Mifilin, William Lehman,
John Sergeant, and Joseph McUvaine, are too well known to
require enumeration.

In the year 1792, David Rittenhouse, (and Dr, William
Smith, we believe, at the same time,) surveyed and levelled a
route for a canal to connect the waters of the Susquehanna and
Schuylkill rivers, by means of Swatara and Tulpehocken
creeks. The Union canal, which has since accomplished this
object, passes over a portion of this route — the first, which
was surveyed for a canal in the colonies.

The views of the projectors of this work were, if the dif?i-_
culties of that period be considered, far more gigantic and sur-
prising than have been entertained by their successors in any
part of the Union. They contemplated nothing less than a
junction of the eastern and western waters of Lake Erie and
of the Ohio with the Delaware, on a route extending 582 miles.
The Allegheny mountain was wisely deemed to offer an insu-
perable obstacle to a continuous navigation. A portage over
this section was accordingly recommended : an expedient which
we at the present day have been compelled to adopt.

Duly to appreciate the enterprise of that age, w^e ought to
consider the great valley of the Ohio and Mississippi was al-

* The Tulpehocken creek, no doubt is alluded to.
t The Swatara creek, probably.

380 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

most one boundless forest ; uninhabited, but by the beasts of
the forest, or the Indians. Attainable moneyed capital was
then almost unknown in the vocabulary of those days. No
canal was then in existence in England. Sankey Brook and
the Duke of Bridgew^ater's were yet unfinished. Public opinion
even there, had yet to learn that canals were not visionary un-
dertakings. The sneers of many were to be encountered;
nevertheless, under all these discouragements, the earliest ad-
vocates for inland navigation c( mmenced their efforts in Penn-
sylvania. In 1760 they induced the American Philosophical
Society to order a survey for a canal to connect the Chesa-
peake bay with the Delaware. The provincial legislature
about the same period, authorized a survey on a route, extend-
ing 582 miles, to Pittsburg and Erie. This survey was per-
formed, and a report made strongly recommending the execu-
tion of the project. The adoption of the plan was postponed
in consequence of the revolution. After the termination of that
struggle, several works were commenced in North Carolina,
Virginia, and Maryland. The canal through the Dismal
Swamp, connecting the Chesapeake bay and Albemarle sound,
with the works on the Potomac, James, and Rappahannock
rivers, were commenced and partially finished, between the
years 1786 and 1791.

The great project of Pennsylvania, was allowed to slumber
until the 29th Sept. 1791, about a century after William
Penn's first prophetic intimation, when the legislature incorpo-
rated a company to connect the Susquehanna and Schuylkill by
a canal and slackwater navigation. Robert Morris, David
Rittenhouse, William Smith, Tench Francis, and others, were
named as commissioners. The intention of connecting the eastern
and north-western parts of the state is distinctly expressed in
this, and a subsequent act, of 10th April, 1792, By the terms
of this last act, a company was incorporated to effect a junc-
tion of the Delaware with the Schuylkill river, by a canal ex-
tending from Norristown to Philadelphia, a distance of 17
miles. The Schuylkill river from the former city to Reading,
vras to be temporarily improved; and thus form, with the
works of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill company, an uninter-
rupted water communication with the interior of the state; with
the intention of extending the chain to Erie and the Ohio. Ex-
perience soon convinced the two companies that a greater

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 381

length of canal was requisite, in consequence of the difficulties,
of improving the channels of the rivers ; hence the company last
mentioned determined, (in compliance with the suggestion of,
Mr. Weston, a British engineer, whom they had imported,) to
extend their canal from river to river, a distance of 70 miles.
In conjunction with the former company, they nearly comple-
ted 15 miles of the most difficult parts of the two works ; com-
prising much rock excavation, heavy embankment, extensive
deep cuttings, and several locks, which were constructed with
bricks. In consequence of the commercial difficulties, (in which
it is known that some of the chief stockholders were shortly
after involved,) both companies M^ere compelled to suspend
their operations, after the expenditure of $440,000. The sus-.
pension of these works, and some years after, of the Chesapeake
and Delaware canal, had a most disastrous elTect on every simi-.
lar work which was projected for many years afterwards.

Frequent abortive attempts were m;ide, from the year 1794,
to resume operations; and notwithstanding the subscription of
$300,000 stock, subsequently tendered by the state, these com-
panies continued a mere languishing existence. In the year
1811, the two bodies were united, and i-eorgani?ed as the Union
Canal Co. They were specially authorized to extend their
canal from Philadelphia to Lake Erie, with the privilege of
making such fiirther extension, in any other part of the state,
as they might deem expedient. In 1819 and 1821, the state
granted further aid, by a guarantee of interest, and a monopoly
of the lottery 'privilege. The additional subscriptions, obtained
in consequence of this legislative encouragement, enabled the
managers to resume operations in 1821. The line was re-lo-
cated, the dimensions of the canal changed, and the whole work
finished in about six years from this period ; after 37 years had
elapsed from the commencement of the work, and 65 ft-om the
date of the first survey. The Union canal is 89 miles in length,
including the Swatara feeder, &c., from Middletown, on the
Susquehanna, to a point on the Schuylkill, a short distance be-
low Reading. It is calculated for boats of 25 to 30 tons bur-
den. At Middletown, on the Susquehanna, it connects with
the main line of Pennsylvania canals; at Reading, with the
works of the Schuylkill Navigation Co. The descent from the
summit to the Schuylkill is 311 feet; to the Susquehanna,
208.

382 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

The summit is 6 miles (between the Swatara and Tulpe-
hocken) 78 chains in length; to which must be added the nav-
igable feeder, which at present extends 6 3-4 miles. The sum-,
mit passes over a limestone district : much deep excavation in
rock was required. In consequence of the many fissures which
abound in limestone rocks, the usual expedient of puddling did
not succeed in retaining the water in the summit. After many
experiments, it was found necessary to plank this section
throughout. On the Schuylkill Navigation Co.'s canal, near
Reading, which passes over the same limestone formation, a
similar expedient was adopted. In both cases the plan was,
successful. On this section, the canal passes through a tunnel
of 729 feet in length, excavated in solid rock. This summit is
supplied by the water of the Swatara, conducted to it by the
feeder already mentioned. As the summit is above the level
of the feeder, two large water-wheels and pumps are resorted
to for the purpose of raising the water to the requisite height.
Tw^o steam engines, one of 120, the second of 100 horse power,
are provided for the purpose of supplying the feeder in case of
accident to the w^ater-works. [The feeder has since been con~.
iinued to a point within four miles of the coal mines.]

A great error was committed in making the dimensions of
this canal too small — an error w^hich threatens to be fatal to.
its existence. It arose partly from the great scarcity of water,
and partly from erroneous view-s entertained by engineers and
others having charge of the w-ork. The locks being adapted
only for boats of 25 tons, while those of the state canals ac-
commodate a boat of 40 or 50 tons, exclude the greater portion
of the boats plying on the state works ; added to which, the.
work has to contend with the competition of the railroad from
Harrisburg and Columbia to Philadelphia. The latter compe-
tition discourages the Union Canal Co. from enlarging their
locks.

In 1828, about 81,600,000 had been expended in the con-
struction of the work, in addition to the proceeds of the lotte-
ry, and excluding the sums expended on the old work.

Schuylkill Navigation commences at Fairmount dam,
near Philadelphia, and is continued up the Schuylkill by Nor-
ristown and Reading to Port Carbon in Schuylkill county ; thus
opening a communication between the city and the heart of this

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES, 383

Schuylkill coal region. It was commenced in 1815 and com-
pleted in 1826. This work, like the Lehigh navigation, is a
series of pools formed by dams across the river, with interven-
ing short lines of canal, sometimes on the east and sometimes
on the west side of the river, which is crossed several times on
the route. Near Reading it is intersected by the Union Canal,
and thus has a communication with the Susquehanna, and with
the State canals of the interior. Length of navigation from
Philadelphia tO Port Carbon 108 miles, of which 58 is canal
and 50 slack water. The longest line of canal on the route is
22 miles, called the Girard, the upper end of which is 5 or 6
miles below Reading. Width of canal 36 feet at top, 22 at
bottom, and 4 feet deep. Locks 80 by 17 feet: total ascent,
610 feet.

TURNPIKES.

Some interesting letters, it is said, are still extant of William
Penn, Logan, and other early statesmen of Pennsylvania, which
contain much interesting information relating to the improve-
ment of roads, the structure of bridges, &c. In the preceding
article, part of one of Penn's letters has' been quoted, allud-
ing to the practicabihty of effecting a communication by wa-
ter, &c.

As to the actual construction of turnpike roads in Pennsyl-
vania, nothing was done before 1792, when a company was
incorporated to construct a turnpike from Lancaster to Phila-
delphia. This road was commenced 1792, and finished in 1794,
at an expense of $465,000. The road is sixty-two miles
long.

Since 1792, more than two hundred and twenty-five turn-
pike companies have been incorporated for the purpose of
making roads.

The Berks and Dauphin county turnpike company was incor-
porated, and commenced the making of the turnpike in 1816,
Bnd finished it in 1817, at an average cost of $3,800 per mile>
The original price of the shares was $50. Individual subscrip-
tions amounted to $63,905. Subscriptions on the part of the
state, $29,900.

384 HISTORY OF BEEfKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

The Perkioraen and Reading turnpike company was incor*
porated, and commenced a turnpike in 1811, and finished in
1815. The average cost of the road was $7,000 per mile<—
The individual subscription was $133,000; on the part of the
state $53,000. These two companies constructed the turn-
pike east and west of Reading, between Philadelphia and Har-
risburg.

The Downington, Ephrata and Harrisburg turnpike compa-
ny was incorporated, and began a turnpike in 1803, and finished
it in 1819. This turnpike passes through the western end of
Lebanon county. Besides these turnpikes, there is another in
Berks county, leading from Reading to Sunbury, through Al-
"sace, Maiden creCk, and other townships.

RAILROADS.

Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, connects with the Col-
umbia Railroad, at the foot of the inclined plane, on the west
side of Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, and thence extends up
that river, by Reading, to Pottsville in Schuylkill county, thus
opening a line of communication between Philadelphia and the
Schuylkill coal region. Being connected with the railroads
which extend from the various mining districts to the river, it
will afford a means for the conveyance of coal to the city at all
seasons. The whole line, from Pottsville to Philadelphia, is
composed of levels and descending grades, which gives great
advantages to the descenc|ing transportation. A locomotive en-
gine of 11 tons weight has conveyed from Reading to the Col-
umbia Railroad near Philadelphia, at a single load, 101 cars,
with a gross burden of 423 tons, at. an average speed of 10
miles to the hour. A part of this load consisted of 2002 bar-
rels of flour, weighing 190 .tons. There arc three tunnels on
this road : one at Flat Rock, 8 miles from the city, 960 feet in
length ; another near Phoenixville of 1832 feet ; and the third
near Port Chnton, 1600 feet. Near the second tunnel, about
30 miles from Philadelphia, the road crosses to the east side of
the river, by a neat and well built viaduct, 228 feet in length,
and 24 feet above the water. Length from the Columbia Rail-
road to Reading 54 miles: from Reading to Pottsville 36 miles.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 385

A branch, 5 miles in length, designed for the transportation of
coal to the Delaware, leaves this road at the Falls of Schuyl-
kill, and crosses eastward to the Delaware rive^r at Richmond,
about three miles above Philadelphia.

Public roads and bridges are numerous, convenient, and kept
in good condition in various parts of these two counties.

CHAPTEE V.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

As early as 1765, the British Parliament passed an act that
all instruments of writing, such as promissary notes, bonds, in-
dentures, &c., were to be null and void, unless written on pa-
per or parchment stamped with specific duty. This measure
was opposed in England and in this country ; and being found
unpopular, the act was repealed in 17C6; but another act was
passed by Parhament, declaring that the British Parliament had
a right to make laws binding the colonies in all cases whatever;
this act was soon followed by another, imposing, in the colo-
nies, duties on glass, paper, painters' colors, and tea. These
several acts kindled in every patriotic bosom, a strong opposi-
tion to the measures of the mother country, and one circum-
stance after another led to an open rupture betv/een the colo-
nies and the parent country, which happened about the year
1773, when the Bostonians threw the tea overboard. From that
time on, a flame was kindled in every breast. Gen. Gage,
from Britain, arrived at Boston in 1774, with more troops,
some havino- arrived before, "to drag-oon the Bostonians into
compliance." — The Bostonians had to suffer much; but their
sufferings excited the sympathy of others. Associations for
their relief were formed in nearly all the colonies ; even this
county was not the last nor least to aid in relieving their K«t-
fering brethren, as will fully appear from the following :

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 38!?.

Notices, headed " Boston Port Bill," were posted up in
Reading, calling meetings. The following are the proceedings
of one of them;

At a meeting of a very respectable body of freeholders and
others, inhabitants of the county of Berks, at Reading, the 2d
of July, 1774, Edward Biddle, Esq., in the chair.

This assembly, taking into their very serious consideration, the
present critical situation of American affairs, do unanimously
resolve as follows, viz:

1. That the inhabitants of this county do owe, and will pay
due allegiance to our rightful Sovereign, King George the
Third.

2. That the powers claimed, and now attempted to be put
into execution by the British Parliament, are fundamentally
wrong, and cannot be admitted without the utter destruction of
the liberties of America.

3. That the Boston Port Bill is unjust and tyrannical in the
extreme. And that the measures pursued against Boston are
intended to operate equally against the rights and liberties of
the other colonies.

4. That this assembly doth concur in opinion with their re-
spective brethren of Philadelphia, that there is an absolute
necessity for an immediate congress of the deputies of the se-
veral advices, in order to deliberate upon and pursue such mea-
sures, as may radically heal our present unhappy disturbances,
and settle with precision the rights and liberties of America.

5. That the inhabitants of this county, confiding in the pru-
dence and ability of the deputies intended to be chosen for th»^
general congress, will cheerfully submit to any measures wliich
may be found by the said congress, best adapted for the resto-
ration of harmony between the mother country and the colo-
nies, and for the security; and firm establishment of the rights
of America.

Qj, That as the people of Boston are now suffering in the
grand and common cause of American liberty, Resolved —

That it is the duty of all the inhabitants to contribute to the
support of the said sufferers, and that the committee hereafter
named, do open subscriptions for their relief. And further, that
the said committee do lay out the amount of such subscriptions
in purchasing flour and other provisions, to be sent by them to
our said suffering: brethren.

388 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

7. That Edward Biddle, James Reed, Daniel Brodhead,
Henry Christ, Esqs., Christopher Schultz, Thomas Dundass,
and Jonathan Potts, gentlemen, be, and they are hereby ap-
pointed a committee to meet and correspond with the commit-
tees from the other counties of the Province.

The thanks of the Assembly were unanimously voted to the
chairman, for the patriotic and spirited manner in which he
pointed out the dangerous situation by the unconstitutional
measures lately pursued by the British Parhament, with respect
to Boston; expressing, at the same time, the greatest loyalty to
our Sovereign, and the most warm and tender regard for the
liberties of America.

There never appeared to be greater unanimity of sentiment
upon any occasion, than in the resolves made by the freemen of
this county, all cordially agreeing to sacrifice every temporary
advantage, for the purpose of securing liberty to themselves and
their posterity.

Similar meetings had been held in Lancaster, in which citi-
zens from that part of the county, now Lebanon, attended. —
One of these meetings was held, at the court house in Lancas-
ter, the 15th of June, 1774,

The following resolves were then adopted: — Agreed — that
to preserve the Constitutional rights of the inhabitants of Ameri-
ca, it is incumbent on every colony, to unite and use the most
effectual means to procure a repeal of the late act of Parlia-
ment against the town of Boston.

That the act of Parliament for blocking up the port and har-
bor of Boston, is an invasion of the rights of the inhabitants of
the said town, as subjects of the crown of Great Britain. That
it is the opinion of the inhabitants at this meeting that the pro-
per and effectual means to be used to obtain a repeal of the
said act, will be to put an immediate stop to all imports, and
exports, to and from Great Britain, until the same act be re-
pealed.

That the traders and inhabitants of this town will join and
concur with the patriotic merchants, manufacturers, tradesmen,
and freeholders, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and
other parts of this province, in an association or solemn agree-
ment to this purpose, if the same shall be by them thought ne-
cessary.

HISTORy OF BEHKS AND LEBAKON COUNTIES. 389^

December, 1774, the following persons of that part of Lan-
caster, now Lebanon county, were chosen, with others of Lan-
caster county, as inspector at an election, to elect a committee
to observe the conduct of all persons touching the general as-
sociation of the general Congress ; and as it was necessary that
each township should elect a proper person to act as inspector,
and receive the tickets of the electors, on the day of the elec-
tion, &c., the following persons were chosen. From Hanover
township, Tipiothy Green ; from Londonderry, John Campbell ;
from Lebanon, Thomas Clark, Curtis Grubb, Henry Light ;
from Bethel, Ludwig Schuey, Casper Corr, JohnBishon; from
Lebanon Town, Henry Bealor.

The course pursued by the mother country, incensed the
people of the several provinces and colonies — a continental con-
gress was assembled at Philadelphia, September 4, 1774. Res-
olutions were passed, approving the course of Massachusetts,
in opposition to Gen. Gage — the open and decided hostilities
eventuated in bloodshed, at the battle of Lexington, AprillO,
1775, which was soon followed by another — the battle of Bun-
ker Hill, June 17th. To meet the emergency, the provincial-
ists and colonists held 'Conventions, military and other meetings.

In this great conflict between the mother country and the
colonists, the inhabitants of Berks and Lebanon, took in its
incipient, progressive and consummating stage, an active part,
in common with others of Pennsylvania, and the states gener-
ally.

Notice for a meeting of General Committee, on 2d of July,
1776.

In Standing Committee at Reading, Berks county, Thurs-
day, June 27th, 1776.

Nicholas Lutz, Chairman.

Resolve^, That notice be imniediately given to the member?
of the General Committee of this county, to meet at the Court
House in Reading, on Tuesday next, the second day of July,
on affairs of public importance, and very interesting at this
critical time, especially to choose officers for six hundred and
sixty-six men — and that the several members be desired to en-
quire what officers now^ in the Association are willing to go
into immediate service on call.

33*

390 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

A public meeting was called at Lancaster, to which the
military of Berks, as well as other counties, sent their ratio of
men. The meeting consisted of the officers and privates of
fifty-three battalions of the Association of Pennsylvania, to
choose two Brigadier Generals, to command the battalions and
forces in Pennsylvania. We give the names of those of Berks
who attended the meeting. The meeting was held July 4,
1776.

The proceedings of that meeting, in the autograph of the
Secretary, are still preserved by the Clymer family, of Read-
ing. They are worthy a place here, as a reminiscence of '76 —
they cannot be too carefully preserved or too generally circu-
lated.

Minutes of a meeting of the Officers and of the Private As-
sociators of Pennsylvania, July 4, for the choice of two Briga-
diers.

At a meeting of the Officers and Privates of fifty-three Bat-
talions of the Associators of the Colony of Pennsylvania, at
Lancaster, on the 4th day of July, 1776, on due notice to
choose two Brigadier Generals, to command the Battalions and
Forces in the said Colony.

Col. George Ross, President.

Lieut. Col. Daniel Clymer, Secretary.

The Protest of the Board of Officers of the five Battalions,
of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, to the Assembly, was
read.

No. 1. The Circular Letter, signed by the Chairman, Col.
Roberdeau, was read.

No. 2. The Circular Letter from the Committee of Privates,
of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, signed by the Chaii-
man, Mr. Sam'l Simpson, was read.

No. 3. The Protest of the Privates of the City and Liber-
ties of Philadelphia, to the Assembly, signed by Mr. Samuel
Simpson, was read.

By the returns of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, and
the several counties of the colony of Pennsylvania, the follow-
ing persons were delegated to the Convention, to wit:

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 391

CITY AND LIBERTIES OF PHILADELPHIA.

First Battalion; Officers, Col. John Chevalier, Capt. Joseph
Copperthwait. Privates: Mr. Thomas Nevil, Mr. George
Nelson.

Second Battalion; Officers — Col. D. Roberdeau, Capt. Wra.
Bradford. Privates : Mr. Thos. Montfforaery, Mr. Wm.
Pool. '

Third Battalion; Officers — Major Robt. Knox, Capt. Sharp
Dulaney. Privates: Mr. Paul Cox, Mr. Charles Prior.

Fourth Battalion; Officers — Capt. Jno. Kling, Capt. James
Brewster,. Privates: John Brower, Henry Keck.

First Rifle— Fifteenth Battalion ; Officers— L. Col. Daniel
Clymer, Capt. Lewis Bitting. Privates: Thos. Craig, Jacob
Kitter.

Philadelphia County— First Battalion; Officers— Major
Isaac Hews, Mr. Geo. Gray, standard bearer. Privates: Jesse
Roberts, William Smith.

Second Battalion; Officers— Capt. Josiah Hart, Capt. Mar-
shall Edwards. Privates: Robt. Whitten, John Simpson.

Fourth Battalion ; Privates— James Hazelett, . William
Hicks.

Bucks County— First Battalion ; Officers— Capt. John Jar-
vis, Capt. John Folwell. Privates: Arthur Wats, Joseph
Fenton.

Second Battalion; Officers— Capt. John Jameson, Adjutant
Wra. Thompson. Privates: Ab'm Hollis, Wm. Harr.

Third Battalion; Officers— Col. And'w Kekline, L. Col. Jo-
siah Bryan. Privates: John Patterson, Mich'l Stoneback.

Fourth Battalion; Officers— Col. Robt- Robinson. Privates:
Tunis Vn Middleswart, Francis Titus.

Chester County — First Battahon; Officers— Major John
Culbertson, Capt. Benj'n Wallace. Privates: Samuel Cun-
ningham, And'w Boyd.

Second Battahon; Officers— Lt. Col. Wm. Gibbons. Pri-
vates: David Denny, Sam'l Culbertson.

Fourth Battalion; Officers— Col. Wm. Montgomery, Capt.
Joseph Gardiner. Privates: John Mackey, John Fulton.

Sixth — Lancaster County — First Battalion; Officers — Col.
Geo. Ross, Lt. Col. Adam Reigart. Privates: Christian Werts,
Francis Baily.

392 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

Second Battalion; Officers — Col. Carlis Grubb, Major Philip
Marstaler. Privates: James Sullivan, Ludwick Ziering.

Third Battalion; Officers— Lt. Col.Rob't Thompson, Major
Thos. Smith. Privates : John Smiley, Isaac Erwin.

Fourth Battalion ; Officers — Capt. Joseph Sherrer, Captain
James Murray. Privates : Ab'm Darr, Wm. Leard.

Fifth Battalion; Officers — Col. James Crawford, Captain
James Mirur. Privates : Henry Slaymaker, John Whitehill.

Sixth Battalion; Officers — Lt. Col. Lowry, Major James
Cunningham. Privates : John Bealy, John Jameson.

Seventh Battalion; Officers— Col. M. Slough, Lieut. Col.
Leon'd Rautfaung. Privates : Christian Bough, Simon Snider^

Eighth Battalion; Officers — Col. Peter Grubb, Capt. Hepiy
Weaver. Privates : William Smith, George Wry.

Ninth Battahon; Officers — Lieut. Col. Chris'n Weyman^,
Major Michael Tire. Privates: Michael Diffebaugh, Anthony
Debler.

Tenth Battalion — Ptifle Battalion ; Officers — Col. John Ferre,,
Lt. Col. And'vv Little. Privates: George Line, Joseph White-
hill.

Eleventh — Rifle Battalion; Officers — Col. I'imothy Green,
Lieut. Col. Peter Heddricks. Privates: Wm. Barnet, George
Little.

York County — First Battalion; Officers — Lieut. Col. Jos.
Donaldson, Capt. Mich'l Smiser. Privates: Wm. Scott John
ill wing.

Second Battalion ; Officers — Major Hugh Donwiddie, CajA..
F^ugh Campble. Privates: Da. McConnaughy, Esq., Geo. W.
Clinghan.

Third Battalion ; Officers — Major Jos. Jeffereis, Major John
Andrew. Privates: John Hamilton, Thos. Little.

Fourth Battalion; Col. Wm. Smith, Major Smith, Major
JohnFinley. Privates: Jacob Shiey, Josiah Scott.

Fifth Battalion; Officers— Col. Mathew Dill, Major Garrett
Oeft. Privates: James Nealor, Dan'l Messerty.

Cumberland — First Battalion; Officers — Capt. John Steel,
Lieut. Wm. Blair. Privates: Jonathan Hogge, Eph'm Steel.
Second Battalion; Offixers— Capt, John McClelland, Capt.
iilias Davison. Privates: Jonathan Smith, Henry Pawling.

Third Battalion; Officers— L. Col. Wm. Clark, Capt. And,
McFarland. Privates: James Brown:!, Wm. Sterrett.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 393

Fourth Battalion ; Officers— Lieut. Col. Fred'k Watts, Capt.
Geo, Robinson. Privates: John Hamilton, James Read.

Fifth Battalion; Officers — Col. Joseph Armstrong, Major
James McCalmont. Privates : James Finley, John Vance.

Berks County — First Battalion; Officers — Major Gabriel
Heister, Lieut. Philip Cremer. Privates : John Hartman, Pe^
ter Filbert.

Second Battalion; Officers — Col. Mark Bird, Major John
Jones. Privates : David Morgan, Benjamin Tolbut.

Third Battalion; Officers— Lieut. Col. Nich's Lutz, Capt.
, Geo. Keim. Privates: Henry Spoon, Mathias Winrich.

Fourth Battalion; Officers — Major Mich'l Lindemut, Capf.
George May. Privates : Mich'l Moser.

Fifth Battalion; Officers — Col. John Patton, Lieut. CoL
John Rice. Privates : Jacob Selsir, Christ'n Winter.

Sixth Battalion; Offixers — Major Conrad Letfier, Lieut.
John Miller. Privates : John Hill, Henry Larke.

Seventh Battalion; Officers — Co/. Sebastian Swan, Adjutant
Samuel Ebey. Privates: Philip Wisters, Casper Smack.

Northampton — First ]3attalion; Officers — Major Ab'm _Le-
bar, Capt. John Orndt. Privates; Wm. McFarren, Jacob Upp.

Second Battalion; Officers — Col. Henry Geigar, Capt. Mi-
chael Snider. Privates: Rich'd Barkhous, Peter Haas.

Third Battahon; Officers — Major John Sigfried, Captain
Nich's Karn. Privates: Robert Brown, Henry Best.

Fourth Battalion; Officers — Col. Jacob Stroud, Capt. Tim-
othy Jayne. Privates: John McDowel, jr.. Derrick Von Fleik.

Northumberland — The Battalion under Col. Hunter — Offi.-
cers — Capt. Ch's Gillespie, Lieut. Geo. Calhoun. Pi ivates :
Fred'k Stone, Laughlan McCartney.

The Second battalion under Col." Plunkett — Officers — Maj.
John Brady, Lieutenant Mordecai M'Kinzie. Privates: Paul
Gattes, Andrew Culbertson.

The Third Battalion under Col. Weiser — Officers — Col.
Benjamin Weiser, Lieut. Col. Samuel M'Clay. Privates: Seth
Matlock, Jonas Yokan.

The Fourth battahon under Colonel Potter; Officers — Lieut.
Col. Robert Moodie, Capt. Wm. Gray. Privates: James
M'Clanahan, Benjamin Starret.

Westmoreland. First battalion; Officers — Capt. VendleOrey,

S94 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Captain Alexander Thompson. Privates: William Gutliery,
William Perry.

Second Battalion ; Officers — Col. Providence Mornly, Maj.
James Sr.iith. Privates: John Carmichael, George Gray.

A question was put, whether the officers and privates shall
vote by ballot, singly.

Resolved, unanimously, in the affirmative.

Resolved, That both Brigadier Generals be voted for at the
same time, and the highest in votes to be the commanding of-
ficer.

Adjourned till 5 o'clock, P. M.

P. M., 5 o'clock, the officers and privates met, according to
adjournment.

Resolved, tliat Col. Mark Bird and Capt. Sharp Belancy,
with the President, be judges of the election for Brigadiers
General.

The election came on the same day, and after casting at the
poll, the votes stood thus for B?~igadier General:

Daniel Roberdeau, 160; James Ewing, 85; Samuel Miles.
82; James Potter, 25; Curtis Grub, 9; George Ross, 9; Tho-
mas M'Kean, 8; Mark Bird, 7.

The President immediately declared Dan'l Roberdeau 1st
Brigadier General, and James Ewing 2d Brigadier General.

Resolved, That the Brigadier Generals shall have full power
and authority to call out any number of the associates of this
]irovince into action, and that j^ov/er to continue until super-
seded by the convention, or by any authority under the appoint-
ment.

Resolved, That the President of this board shall have. full
jiow^er and authority to grant commissions to the tv/o Briga-
dier Generals, until commissions issue from the convention, or
any authority they shall appoint to succeed them.

Resolved, That we will march under the direction and com-,
mand of our Brigadier Generals to the assistance of all or any
of the Free and Independent States of Am^erica.

Resolved, That the associators to be drafted out of each
county, by the Brigadier Generals, shall be in the same pro-
portion as that directed by the late Provincial conference in
Philadelphia.

Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be presented to the
President for his seasonable and correct speech this day in be-

HlSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBAJfON COUNTIES. 5^J5

tialf of the Liberties of America, and of this colony in particu-
lar, and the cheerfulness, alacrity, and impartiality with which
he conducted the business of the day, which the colonel re-
viewed, and politely thanked the Board for the honor done him
in their address.

Resolved, That Col. Ross, Lieut. Col. Daniel Clyraer, and
Capt. Chas. Dulaney, be a committee to review and correct the
number of the proceedings of this day, and they are hereby de-
sired to publish them in the first newspaper of this Colony, and
that they be signed by the President.

George Ross, President.
D. Clymer, Secretary.

Lancaster, Jiily, 4, 1776.

At a rheeting of a board of Officers of the Five Battalions Oi
the city and liberties of Philadelphia, and of the committee of
Privates, at the College Hall, on Friday, the 14th of June,
1776.

Col. RoBERDEAu in the Chair.

A member of the committee of Privates, acquainted the
Board, that the committee of Privates had prepared a Protest
to the Assembly, against the appointment of Brigadier Gener-
als, under a Resolve of Congress ; Therefore

Resolved, by the Board of Officers, That an officer out of
each Battalion be appointed to draw up a Protest against the
Assembly's appointing Brigadier Generals under the Resolve
of Congfress.

Resolved, That Col. Matlack, Col. Dean, Major Bayard,
Major Knox, and Captain Will, be appointed for that pur-
pose.

The said gentlemen returned a Protest, wliich being read,
paragraph by paragraph, was amended and unanimously agreed
to.

Resolved, That the chairman sign the same, in behalf of
this board of officers, and present it to the Assembly, which
Protest is in the words following :

To the Honorable the House of Representatives of the Free-

396 HlSTORV OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES."

men of the province of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly

met:
The Pretest of the board of officers of the five battalions of

the city and liberties of Philadelphia, respectfully sheweth:

That this board address you by the title heretofore used to
the Honorable House of Assembly, in order to avoid the least
appearance of disrespect to the Honorable members now sit-

*^"^- ■ . ...

That this board has received information, that the Honorable

Congress of the United Colonies, has recommended to this co-
lony to appoint two Brigadier Generals to command the Asso-
ciators of this province : And we, apprehending that this House
may be induced to take upon them to nominate and appoint
the said Brigadier Generals, without having authority of tlce
Associators for that purpose : And further apprehending, that
any nomination made by this Honorable House will not give
satisfaction to the Associators of the province, and, consequent-
ly, that they will not act under them: For these, and other
important and weighty considerations, this board do hereby
Protest against the Honorable House making, or attempting to
making the said appointments.

Resolved, {loith one dissenting voice,) That there is an im-
mediate necessity of calling together a Provincial Meeting of
Associators, for the purpose of appointing the said Brigadier
Generals.

Resolved, That two officers and two privates, of each bat ■
talion in the province, be requested to attend in the borough of
Lancaster, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, for the
purpose of appointing two Brigadier Generals, according to
the recommendation of congress.

Resolved, That Colonel Matlack, Major Knox, Capt. Will,
Capt. Wade, Capt. Loxley, and Capt. Humphreys, be a com-
mittee to draw up and send to the officers of the battalions, in
this province, a circular letter, for the purpose of calling the
said convention at the time and place aforesaid, and that the
chairman sign the same.

Philadelphia, June 14, 1776.
Sir, — The above proceedings of the board of officers of the
five battalions of this city and liberties, will inform you of their
proceedings in a case which we conceive to be of the most im-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 397

portant concern to the Associators of this province. The ex-
treme dangers to which the province now stands exposed, we
hope, justify us in requesting two officers and two privates of
each battalion, to meet together at a time which we are very sen-
sible, will be attended with great inconvenience to you. We
Hatter ourselves, that your zeal in the great cause of Liberty
will induce you to a compliance with our recommendation, in
appointing the delegation mentioned in our resolves, to attend
in Lancaster, at the time mentioned therein. Various modes
of appointing Brigadier Generals hare been proposed and care-
fully considered; and we assure you that we have diligently at-
tended to this very important alhiir, and are fully satisfied, that
the r.io;le we recommend is the only om which will eflfectually
secure the rights and liberties of the associators of this province,
and enable them to defend themselves against our inveterate
and cruel enemies,

N. B. The Resolve of Congress is, That three Provincial
Brigadier Generals be t^mployed for the Flying Camp, two from
Pennsylvania, and one from Maryland. That the said Briga-
dier Generals be appointed by the respective Colonies above
mentioned »

D. ROBERDEAU, Pres't.

To the Privates of the several Battalions of Military Asso-
ciators in the Province of Pennsylvania,

Gentlemen, — The Honorable Congress having resolved upon
a Hying camp of 10,000 men, for the protection of our Province
and Maryland, viz: 6000 for this Province, 6000 for the low-
er counties, and 3400 for Maryland : and that Maryland should
appoint one, and this Colony two Brigadier Generals; The
Committee of Piivates of the Associators of the city and liber-
ties of Philadelphia, considering that an appointment made by
any body of men, besides the Asssociators, would not be per-
fectly satisfactory, and being further convinced that it was their
right to make the appointment, and that the security of their
liberties depended greatly on the exercise of this right, and
being desirous of having it enjoyed equally by all, have agreed
with the Board of Officers, to call a Provincial meeting of As-
o4

"398 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

sociators, consisting of two Privates and two officers from each
Battalion, elected by said Battalions for the purpose of choos-
ing said Generals, to meet in Lancaste?-, on Thursday, the 4tli
of July. We attended particularly to the season of the year,
and the difficulty of your attending so near harvest ; but yet, as
the matter was very important, and we were unwilling to do
any thing without consulting all, and giving them an equal op-
portunity with ourselves of exercising their right, we adopted
this measure: We therefore were persuaded, that freemen, as-
sociated for the defence of their rights, would overlook every
difficulty attending a perfect and free exercise of it. — Our As-
sembly, we mean such of its members as are not quite with us.
wished to have the appointment, but we prepared the follow-
ing protest against it, as the whole of our success depends on
a jrroper choice. We trust you will see it in the same impor-
tant light with us, and send the delegation above mentioned,
that every battalion in the Province may have a perfectly equal
representation — if said conference should unite in some test to
be taken by the Associators, that we might know who to de-
pend on, it might be well. We wish to take nothing upon our-
selves ; but being the advance-guard, our duty requires that we
give the alarm.

We are, gentlemen, &c.
Signed by order of the Committee of Privates.

SAMUEL SIMPSON, President.

To the Honorable the Representatives of the Freemen of the
Province of Pennsylvania,

The Protest of the Committee of the Privates of the Milita-
ry Association belonging to the city and liberties of Philadel-
phia, respectfully Sheweth:

That this Committee, understanding that the Honorable Con-

fress has recommended to this Colony to appoint two Briga-
ier Generals to command the Associators of this Province, do
Protest against any Appointment of said Brigadier Generals to
be made by this House :

First, because there is no regular Militia Law which obli-
ges the Constituents of this House to become Associators, or to

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 39^

tind persons in their room, if they decline associating: And
therefore the Association is not properly provincial, and of con-
sequence this House is not properly constituted to be compe-
tent to the business, nor can the Appointment come before them
as a Provincial Representation.

Second. Because many of the Associators have been ex-
cluded by this very House from voting for the Members now
composing it, though this House was applied to on their be-
half: And Therefore they are not represented in this House.

Third. Because the Counties which have the greatest num-
ber of Associators have not a proportional Representation, and
therefore cannot be considered as having an equal voice in the
nomination.

Fourth. Because the Association has been voluntary — and
this House choosing, by their Resolutions respecting it, that it
should remain so: Therefore cannot interfere, nor in any wise,
consistent with decency, attempt to impose officers upon us not
of our own choosing.

Fifth. Because many members of this House are the Repre-
sentatives of persons in religious professions like themselves, to-
tally averse to military defence: And therefore cannot be called
the Representatives of Associators; nor do we wish to inter-
fere so much with their religious sentiments as to reduce them
to the necessity of quitting their seats, or joining in the nomi-
nation.

Sixth. Because it is well known that there are men in this
House who have, ever since our first opposition to Great Bri-
tain, refused to concur in any measure necessary for defence;
and we have reason to fear that some are disposed to break the
Union of the Colonies, and submit to the Tyranny of Great
Britain.

Seventh. Because this House is under no oaths of fidelity to
their constituents, by which they would be bound to consult
their interest ; nor are they proper persons to make the oaths
which are to bind themselves.

Eighth. Because, though the members of this House, who
were under oaths of Allegiance to the Crown, coi.slder them-
selves absolved therefrom, and have admitted the new-elected
members to their seats without taking oaths, thereby dissolving
the old Constitution, and finally abolishing the charter; — yei

400 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

effectual care is taken to head the several pages of their re-
solves, as usual, with " Votes of Assembly, John Perm, Esq.,
Governor^" without the assent of the people for this purpose.
These things wear such a face of design as renders the inten-
tions of this House suspicious ; and we think a House still con-
fessing the King's Representative their Governor, cannot safe-
ly be trusted with the appointment of Generals to command us,
lest it might give us such as would enable a certain party to
make up with the enemy, at the expense of our Lives and
Liberties.

JYinth. JBecause a House, which shewed itself so unfriendly
to the Association at a time when so much depended upon Iheir
exertions, as after frequent and repeated applications for justice,
to impose no more than three shillings and six-pence fine on
non-Associators for every day of general muster, and that in so
lax a manner, that it is a question whether it will ever be col-
lected, is not to be trusted with appointment of Generals to
command us, lest they should shew as little regard to our in-
terest in the one case as in the other.

Tenth. Because, as this House was chosen by those only,
who were acknowledged the liege Subjects of George our ene-
my, and derived their sole right of electing this House from
that very circumstance. We conceive that the moment they
undertook to set aside this allegiance, they by that very act
destroyed the only principle on which the}^ sat as Representa-
tives; and therefore are not a House on the principles on which
they were elected, and having derived no new authority from
the people freed from such allegiance, they are a Representa-
tive body on no one principle whatever, and therefore can in no
manner undertake to do the business of Representatives farther
than the people indulge them, without usurping authority, and
acting arbitrarily.

Eleventh. Because the Associators have the right of appoint-
ing officers to command them, and mean ever to retain it.

We therefore protest against, and declare we will not sub-
mit to any appointment of Geneial officers to command u.^,
which this House may think proper to go into.

Nevertheless, that the resolve of Congress may be fully com-
plied with, we have taken the proper steps to have a number
of Associators, Representatives from every Battalion in the
province, collected together as soon as^possible, to proceed to
the choice of said Brigadier Generals, under whom, we doubt

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 401

not, but the Associators will serve with cheerfulness, and they
being the officers of their choice, will have the confidence of
the Associators.

Signed by order of the committee of Privates.

SAMUEL SIMPSON, President.

List of persons in Middle Ward, in the City of Philadelphia,
of the age of eighteen years and upwards, who are able and
willing to bear arms, May 1, 1775.

Dan'l Clymer, Samuel Eush, Thomas Leonard, RossCurrie,
Charles Lyon, jr., George Tudor, James Bryson, Will'm
Huston, Wm. Falconer, Wm. M'Dougall, Nathaniel Parker,
William Ritchard, Jno. Wigton, Thos. Tisdall, \^'ra. Oliphant,
Jona'n Adams, Joseph Harper, Wm. Carson, Andrew Carson,
Tobias Shdham, Ezek'l Getz, Gab"! Valois, Nathaniel Richards,
John Sparhawk, Thomas Irwin, Wm. SheafF, John Dupuy,
William Stretch, Robert Smith, Daniel Craig, John Springer,
A. Kuhn, Charles Simpson, Gust's Risberg, Robert Vallance,
Joseph Warner, jr., Henry Strenbk, Alex'r Eartrum, James
Huston, Thomas Palmer, Esmond Leonardnan, Richard Sweat,
David McFee, Caspar Flesher, '1 homas Logan, Jas. Burnsidc,
Richard Hunt, Wm. Marshall, Adam Zantzinger, Sam'l Jervis,
Wm. Thorne, Henry Salor, Tho. M'Kean, 'Phos. Montgome-
ry, Joseph Vandegriif, James Suiher, John Reynolds, Chris*
GofFner, John Cobey, William Bombeger, Jacob TrosJer,
James Harris, Wilhara Rediger, Peter Gosner, John Book,
Daniel Gosner, Elijah Coffing, Enoch Morrer, Wilham Orr,
Henry Taylor, Philip Warner, I. Sutter, Joseph Osborne, Jo-^
seph Hood, Pat'k Connelly, Chas, Torrence, Adam Clelan,
Wm. Thompson, Archibald M'Lain, George Lufft, Wollore
Ming, Rich'd Graham, John Wokel, John Warner, Nathaii
Jones, Peter Wiltberger, John Handlyn, Sam'l Fletcher, Jo-
Govell, John Halbarett, Patrick Doddey, Wilham Reed, his
mark X, Thos. Fisher, Jacob Shober, John Little, John Shea,
his mark X, Sachevol C. Wood, Bernard Harigan, his mark X,
George Reinholt, Jeremiah Wilbaron, Benjamin Williamson,
Andrew Graydon, John Withospoonc, Michael Shoemaker, Jof
seph Burns, Jacob Prailey, John Koppold, Jacob Gubble, John
Baker, John Park, William Marshall, Andrew Forrost, Wm.
McCloster, James Porter, John Davison, Lawrence Seckel,

34*

402 HISTORY OF BERKS AKD LEBANON COUNTIES.

John Bowman, Thomas Power, Franklin Rood, John Shop-
land, McDonald, And'w Starrett, John Hanna.

To return to Berks — That the inhabitants of Beiks and Leba-
non as a body — tories, if any, excepted — were as ardently de-
voted to the cause of American freedom, and did as much as
any portion of the Union, is a matter of historical fact, and
needs not here to be repeated ; nevertheless, a few extracts from
the Minutes of the Committee of Safety, and other documents,
letters, &c. are given, to show what was done, as it is believed.
Avill be read with interest, by those whose fathers took a pari
in the ever memorable Revolution of '76, in favor of ILl-
Whigs.

The extracts are given in detached order, without atttmj)!-
ing to fill any hiatus. It would occupy too much space to do
so.

An order was drawn, Sept. 2, 1776, on John S. Nesbitl,
Esq., Treasurer, and was directed to pay Mr. Isaac Levan,
£50, on account of the committee of Berks county, in supply-
ing the families of poor Associators, who are now in actual
service, with necessaries to be charged to said committee.

The committee of Inspection and Observation, of Reading,
in Berks county, having respresented to the Board the neces-
sity of keeping a guard in that town.

Resolved, That the committee of Reading be empowered to
appoint a small guard in that town, so long as the prisoners*
of w^ar shall reside there, and the Board will take proper mea-
sures to defray the expenses attending it.

So determined were the patriotic soldiers of Berks, not to
suffer one transgressor or delinquent to escape condign punish-
raent or being publicly exposed ; as will appear from the fol-
lowing coramuncation, addressed to the Committee of Berks
county :

Philadelphia, 21 Dec, 1776.
To the Honorable Committee of Berks, at Reading.
Gentlemen :

At oux being properly quartered in Mr. Galloway's house in
* See pages 145, 146, antea.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 40H

the city, by the Quarter Master General, F k R p, one

of our men, very imprudently and wickedly broke open a room,
wherein were some valuable effects, which were the property,
as is supposed, of said Galloway, and took off with him some
loaf sugar, lawn, a diaper, table cloth, &c., and immediately
deserted his company. These are, therefore, to request you'll

take proper steps to secure said R p, so that he may be

brought to trial, for said offence, which is by no means coun-
tenanced by any of the oflicers — as we are likely to be greatly
disgraced by such depredations or unwarrantable proceedings.

H y M r and B r II e, have also deserted —

whom, we expect, may be secured and made a public example
of, otherwise, we are determined never to serve longer in the
cause. There is still remaining at home, numbers of others,
belonging to the militia, well known to you all, enjoying their
ease and pleasure, all of whom we request, you would, lor the
honor of Berks, order them to join us at the camp, to which
place, we march to-morrow; otherwise, we will earnestly re-
quest, they may be published to the world, as enemies to their
country — and we shall deem them as such.
We are, with great respect.

Gentlemen, your well wishers
and humble servants,

John Mears, Adj't,
George Will,
John Diehl,
John Witman,
Daniel Rose,
John Kidd,
Philip Kremer.

404 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ExtJ^act — Letter sent by Express.

Chester, 14th December, 1776.
James Read, Esq. — Dear Sir:

The Honorable Continental Congress having directed me to
visit the Associators of the several counties of this State, and
to endeavor, with the aid of several gentlemen of the Assem-
bly, and of the freemen at large, to stimulate and encourage
them to set forth, ac this critical' time, to the support of their
country, I request the favor of you to convene the committee
of your count}', and to inform that we propose to meet the of-
ficers and Assooiators of the several battalions in your county,
at the town of Reading, on Wednesday next, at 10 o'clock in
the morning.

We depend much on the zeal and activity of yourself, and
the other gentlemen of the committee, and trust that the ap-
pearance of your inhabitants on that day, will do honor to^
themselves and their country.

I have the honor to be your

Obedient Servant,
THOMAS MIFFLIN, Brig. Gen.

I am directed to pay the expense of Expresses, &c., which
may be necessary to convene the inhabitants, which I will most
cheerfully do. T. M.

December 31, 1776 ; an order was drawn on Mr. John M.
Nesbitt, for $2000, payable to John Riddle, jr., to be pid by
him into the hands of Andrew Whitman, of Reading, to be
subject to the drafts of the committee of said county, for to de-
fray such expenses as they have incurred, by order of this
Board. — Minutes Com. Safety., iii, 3.

January 12, 1777 ; in council of safety, orders were given Xo
Col. Morgan to have the second Battalion of militia in
Berks county, which he is to command, to make all necessary
preparations, and hold themselves in readiness to march on the
shortest notice, and wait until further orders from the Board —
.Min. Com. Saf., iii, 29.

January 17, 1777; Captain Bickham was directed to pay
Col. Henry Geiger, £89, 4s. od., for charges of apprehending
and bringing to Reading jail the following persons, who are

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES, 405

suspected of being tories, to whose account this sum is to be

charged, viz: W -m T s, P p M r, M 1

O d, C r B f, M 1 B k, n y S r,

J b O t.—Min. Com. Saf.

January 18, 1777 ; Whereas this council is informed that
many of the principal x'Vssociators of Col. Hunter's Battalion of
Berks county, refused to march to join General Washington's
array, at this important crisis, when so glorious an opportunity
offers of crushing the enemy, and thereby have prevented and
discouraged the rest, and proceeded even to dare them to en-
force the Resolve of this council upon them.

Therefore, resolved, That Col. Hunter be directed forthwith
to collect all the well affected in his Battalion, and to sieze
upon the ringleaders, in this defection, and send them under
guard to Philadelphia ; and that he do execute the resolve of
this council, of Dec. 7th, last, upon all who refuse to marcli,
without flivor or affection; and that they do collect blankets
and other necessaries, for the use of those who are to march,
paying a reasonable price for the same; and should any person
refuse to deliver such necessaries as they can spare, the Col. is
directed to take any pay for the same. Those that turn out to
march the most direct road to head quarters. — Min. Com.
Saf., iii, 40.

The following notice was then served upon John Schuty and
John Blattner, by John Fry,

Reading, January 22d, 1777.
Sir — The committee at Reading, do order that you attend
there on Saturday next, the twenty-fifth day of this instant,
January, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, to give them informa-
tion of such things as you know, relative to any person or per-
sons discouraging the march of any part of the militia, hereof
fail not.

By Order of the Committee.

James Read, Chairman.

January 27, 1777, Captain Bickham v>as directed to pay to
Captain Furry, £50, and to Captain Flederick, £62, 16, ior
subsistence money of their two companies, belonging to the

lOfi HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Third battalion of militia of Berks county — to be charged to
Congress.

November Stb, 1777 — In council of safety, ordered that the
persons herinafter named, in the respective counties, be author-
ized and required to collect, without delay, from such of the
inhabitants of the said respective counties, as have not taken,
the oath of allegiance or abjuration, or who have aided or as-
sisted the enemy, by arms and accoutrements, blankets, wool-
len and linsey-woolsey, shoes and stockings, for the army —
that they approve the same, when taken, according to the qua-.
Yity, &c., &c.

The committee appointed, on this occasion, for Berks coun-
ty, the following named gentlemen:

Henry Christ,
Henry Haller,
Thomas Parry,
' Daniel Utree,

Philip Millar,
Nathan Lewis,
John Laner,
Godfried Ream,
Jacob Seltzer,
Nicholas Shaffer,
Minutes of Committee of Safety, Vol. III.

C H A P T E 11 YL

EDUCATION

William Penn, the founck-r of the colony of Pennsyh^ania,
whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus, seems
to have well known that a sound education was indispensable
among all classes to secure, enjoy, and perpetuate the blessings
of civil and religious liberty.

A few extracts from his writings are here presented on this
subject.

"Nothing weakens kingdoms like vice ; it does not only dis-
please Heaven, but disable them;" — "It is our interest to be
good, and it is none of the least arguments for religion, that
the piety and practice of it is the peace and prosperity of go-
vernment ; and consequently that vice, the enemy of religion, is,
at the same time, the enemy of human society. What, then,
should be more concerned for the preservation of virtue, than
government? that, in its abstract, and true sense is not only
founded upon virtue, but without the preservation of virtue, it
is impossible to maintain the best constitution, that can be
made. And, however some particular men may prosper that
are wicked, and some private good men miscarry, in the things
of this world, in which sense, things may be said to happen
alike to all, to the righteous as to the wicked, yet I dare boldly
affirm, and challenge any man to the truth thereof; that, in the

408 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

many volumes of the history of all ages and kingdoms of the
world, there is not one instance to be found, where the hand of
God was against a righteous nationj or when the hand of God
was not against an unrighteous nation^ first or last; nor wherr
a just government perished, nor an unjust government long-
prospered. Kingdoms are rarely so short lived as men; yet
they also have a time to die; but as temperance giveth health
to men, so virtue gives time to kingdoms; and as vice brings
men betimes to their graves, so nations to their ruin.

Respecting modes of government, the memorable founder of
that of Pennsylvania declares, — " There is hardly one frame of
government in the world, so ill designed by its first founder,
that, in good hands would not do well enough ; and history
tells us, the best, in ill ones, can do nothing, that is great or
good; witness, the Jewish and the Roman states. GovernmentSj
like clocks, go from the motion, which men give them; and as
governments are made and moved by men, so by them are they
ruined too: wherefore governments rather depend upon menj
than men upon governments. Let men be good and the go-
vernment cannot be bad; if it be ill they will cure it: but if
men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will
endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn." — "That, there-
fore, which makes a good constitution, must keep it, viz : men
of wisdom and virtue; qualities, that, because they descend
not with wordly inheritances, must be carefully propagated
by a virtuous education of youth; for which after ages will
owe more to the care and prudence of founders, and the suc-
cessive magistracy, than to their parents^ for their private pa-
trimonies."

" I would think (says he in another place) that there are but
few people so vicious, as to care to see their children so; and
yet to me it seems a plain case, that, as we leave the govern-
ment, they will find it : if some effectual course be not taken,
what with neglect, and what with example, impiety and the
miseries that follow it, will be entailed upon our children. Cer-
tainly it were better the world ended with us, than that w<-
should transmit our vices, or sow those evil seeds, in our day,
that will ripen to their ruin, and fill our country with miseries,
after we are gone; thereby exposing it to the curse of God,
and violence of our neighbors. But it is an infelicity we ought
to bewail, that men are apt to prefer the base pleasures of their

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 409

present extravagances to all endeavors after a future benefit;
for, besides the guilt, they draw down upon themselves, our
poor posterity must be greatly injured thereby ; who will find
those debts and incumbrances harder to pay than all the rest,
we can leave them under."

"Upon the whole matter (continues he) I take the freedom
to say, that, if we would preserve our government, we must
endear it to the people. To do this, besides the necessity of
present, just and wise things, we must secure the youth: this
is not to be done, but by the amendment of the way of their edu-
cation; and that with all convenient speed and diligence. I
say, the government is highly obliged : it is a sort of trustee for
the youth of the kingdom; who, though now minors, yet will
have the government when we are gone. Therefore depress
vice, and cherish virtue: that through good education, they
may become good ; which v/ill truly render them happy in this
world, and a good way fitted for that which is to come. If
this be done, they will owe more to your memories for their
education, than for their estates."

Especially does the permanency of all Republics, depend
upon the enlightenment of the people. As education is therefore
encouraged or neglected, so will their foundations be sure and
stable, or loose and unsettled ; and it is difficult to say, whether
in their moral relations or political privileges, this truth is most
self-evident. The certainty, stability ancl perpetuity of a re-
publican government, with all its vast machinery of offices and
officers, such as the efficient administration of the government
by the Executive, the judicious and wholesome exercise of its
powers by the Legislature, the prompt and energetic adminis-
tration of justice by faithful Judges, and above all, the just de-
termination of the rights of parties by impartial Jurors, must
depend alone upon the people. There is no other foundation
upon which the structure can rest. This constitutes its chief
excellence, its greatest strength.

In a government then such as ours, based as it is upon ac-
knowledged democratic principles, in the theory and practice
of which, it is admitted that the people are the source of all
power, making and unmaking at stated intervals all their func-
tionaries, from the chief magistrate of the nation, down to the
humblest officer created by a Borough charter, the necessity of
35

410 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

having that same people educated, will not for a moment be
questioned. For, as they are enlightened or unenlightened so
will their government be elevated in character, or depressed in
a corresponding degree. Called upon as they are, to the fre-
quent exercise of the elective franchise, and thus necessarily to
judge of liaen and measures, their course of action must be de-
termined, either by each man's own personal examination into
the character of the one, and a careful investigation into the
propriety or expediency of the other, or else it must be sugges-
ted, and fixed by the advice and opinions of others. And what
a prolific source of abnse is this. It is seldom indeed that such
advice is honest, for the most part, it is the gratuitous offering
of interested men. How shall all those whose minds are ob-
scured by the clouds of ignorance, be capable of discriminating
between the correctness and incorrectness of questions of pub-
lic policy? How shall they judge between the patriot and the
ambitious, self-aggrandizing demagogue? Are they competent
to arrive at a proper decision of the various complicated ques-
tions, necessarily arising for their determination, and by a re-
ference to which, their choice, is to be regulated in the selec-
tion of officers and representatives? Let the people be educa-
ted, and thus each individual will be rightly impressed with the
important truth, that his own interests are identified with those
of the State. For no government is so free as that which is
upheld by the affections of the people, and no community so
happy as that in which the youth, by proper education, are dis-
ciplined to the exercise of all those moral virtues that ermoble
human nature.

So thought and so acted, almost all of the early settlers of
nearly every state in the Union. Although Colonists it is true,
and perhaps entertaining not even the most remote idea of a
separate existence, at any period of time, as a nation, they were
in their Colonial government, if not essentially, at least par-
tially democratic. Returning by a popular vote, their own
Representatives, and — with the exception of their Governors —
the greater part of all their prominent officers, they felt the ne-
cessity of so ehghtening this first great power, that at a very
early day, schools and institutions of learning were established
and founded by voluntary contributions among them. Such is
the history of the Puritans of New England, the Roman Catho-
lics of Maryland, the Quakers of Pennsylvania and the Hugue-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 411

liots of the Carolinas. True, their first efforts in this respect
were feeble. The country was new, and surrounded as the in-
habitants were by savage foes, the first elements of education
which the children obtained, were communicated by the pa-
rents themselves, in the midst of dangers and imexampled hard-
ships. By degrees, however, as the different settlements in-
creased in number and strength, schools were established for
the instruction of the children, in the ordinary branches of the
education of the country from whence the parents had emigra-
ted: and as in time, wealth began to flow in upon the Colonists,
schools, academies and colleges came to be endowed, either by
individual liberality or legislative munificence. Truly the good
seed sown thus early by the settlers, has yielded abundantly,
"some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold."

In general terms and fewer words, we have thus described
the progressive history of the education of almost every com-
munity in the United States. In some parts we admit, the ad-
vance has been accelerated more perhaps by the comparative
extent of the information of the first emigrants and diminished
number of obstacles encountered by them in subduing the coun-
try, than from any other cause. Under ordinary circumstances,
this might therefore suffice for the object to which the present
chapter is devoted ; but as it is intended to present to the reader
a detailed account of all matters of sufficient importance, and
worthy of being embodied in a work of this kind, it is our duty
as a faithful historian, to enter into details.

Schools were for many years, except a few among, the Friends
and Welsh settlers, exclusively under the control of German
teachers. Many of the first German settlers in Berks and
Lebanon, brought with them their school masters and ministers.
The former in many instances, in the absence of the latter, offi-
ciated in a two-fold capacity, as school master and preacher. —
Of this number were J. C. Wirtz, at Sacany, and Casper Leut-
becker, at Tulpehocken. Rev. Muhlenberg, speaking of
him says, "Nach einiger Zeit kam ein Mann mit Namen, Cas-
per Leutbecker, seiner Profession nach ein Schneider, nach
Tulpehocken (1745) setzte das Vorlesen in der Kirche fort,
hielt Schule und Catichesirte."*

Common schools were very few in number in Berks and Le-j
* Hall. Nach., 249.

412 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

banon, till 1750 or 1751. Some townships had none "In
Oley," says Muhlenberg, "1748, sind Schulen sehr entfernt.''

No systematic efforts were made to improve the schools
among the Germans, in Pennsylvania, till after 1751, when on
the representation of the Rev. Michael Schlatter, who had
been some time in Pennsylvania, to the churches of Holland.
A scheme was started by a society of noblemen of Europe, for
the instruction of Germans and their descendants, in Pennsyl-
vania. These foreign gentlemen "were truly concerned to find
that any of their fellow subjects, in part of the British domin-
ions, were not fully provided with the means of knowledge and
salvation. They considered it a matter of the greatest impor-
tance to the cause of Christianity in general, and the protes-
tant interest in particular, not to neglect such a vast body of
useful people, situated in a dark barren region, with almost
none to instruct them, or their helpless children, who are com-
ing forth in multitudes, and exposed an easy prey to the total
ignorance of their savage neighbors on the one hand, and the cor-
ruption of their Jesuitical enemies, on whom they bordered, on
the other hand; and of whom there were always, perhaps, too
many mixed among them. Moved by these inteiesting con-
siderations, these noblemen and others, did accordingly take the
good design into their immediate protection, and formed them-
selves into a society for the effectual management of carrying
out the scheme of instructing the Germans.*

Schools were subsequently organized at Reading, Tulpe-
hocken, &c., under the direction of the Rev. Michael Schlatt-
er, as Visitor or Supervisor General of the schools; but met
with little or no success, at least not commensurate with the
importance of the enterprize. The designing — these are always
to be found — persuaded the more ignorant, that it was a scheme
gotten up to enslave them! The scheme for, and its effects
upon those whom it was intended to benefit, evanesced. The
consequence was, that schools were still few till about the time
when the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations were
more permanently organized, through the efforts of the Rev'ds
Muhlenberg, Schlatter, and their coadjutors.

At no part of this History better than the present, can it
with greater propriety be observed, that almost co-existent
with the establishment of the first Lutheran churches in Ger^
* See pages antea, P9, 109, where the schejne is given in detail.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 413

many and of the Reformed churches in Switzerland and Hol-
land, there sprang up a custom among their members, peculiar
to themselves. Each congregation was regarded as a spiritual
municipal corporation, and among other duties performed by
those having its control or government, in order that " the
word might not perish for lack of knowledge among the peo-
ple," they employed a competent teacher, to instruct the youth
of both sexes, without any regard whatever to the wealth or
standing of the parents in society. Generally each church was
supplied with an organ — indeed this instrument was regarded
as indispensable to the proper worship of the Almighty, and.
the person employed to perform upon it during divine service,
was required to unite with his skill and knowledge as a musi-
cian, the profession of a school teacher. He usually received
a stated salary, and was furnished with accommodations for
his school, himself and family, at the common cost of the
congregation. In return for this, and in addition to his duty as
an organist — as has been shown — he was required to teach the
children of the congregation upon such terms as the vestry
might from time to time determine. The sum thus fixed, was
paid to him by the parents of such of the children, asw-ereable
to afford it, while the children of those who were in indigent
circumstances, were taught the same branches without charge
and in consideration of the salary paid by the congregation.
This mode of educating their own poor, by a system as simple,
was regarded as a rehgious duty. It was so taught from gen-
eration to generation, through successive years. And when the
Lutheran and German Reformed churches were thoroughly or-
ganized and provided with settled pastors, they also had better
qualified teachers, and schools regularly taught.

It w^as the unceasing effort of both the Revds. Muhlenberg,
Schlatter, and their coadjutors, to establish schools in con-
nection with churches. All great reformers appreciated, and
will ever appreciate the importance of schools. Luther — the
immortal Luther — when speaking of schools and schoolmasters,
used the following emphatic language: —

Die Schulen sind kleine, doch sehr nuetzliche Concilien und
die edelsten Kleinode der Kirche; und die Lehre derselben ein
koestliches Amt und Werk. Ich wollte dass keiner zu einem
Prediger erwaehlt wuerde, er haette sich denn Schon mit dem

35*

414 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Unterricht der Kinder beschaeftiget. Wer dem Teiifel in sei-
nem Reiche einen Schaden zufuegen will, der ihn recht beisse.
der mache sich an die Jugend und Kinder, und suche bey
ihnen einen Grund zu legen, der fuer und fuer bleibe.

In the same light, schools should be ever regarded as the
nurseries of virtue and piety. It is stated, however, with re-
gret, that the citizens of Eerks and Lebanon counties had, for
some years, lost sight of these nuetzliche Concilien, in bestow-
ing that fostering care upon them, so generally, as their im-
portance demands ; nevertheless, some attention was given to
this subject at a comparatively early date, in the effort of esta-
blishing schools of advanced standing, in some sections of these
counties. An academy w^as started at Reading, in 1778, but
owing to a want of proper management and sufficient patronage,
it was suspended till 1836 — but subsequently revived, and sus-
tains at present, a deservedly high character. The course ot
instruction is extensive, embracing the ancient and modern lan-
guages, mathematics, and the other branches usually taught in
in academies and high schools.

A Female Seminary, located in Reading, w^as incorporated
in the spring of 1838. This school, some private ones, and
the public schoolsin the borough, sustain a very fair reputa-
tion.

At Wommelsdorf and Kutztown, are academies of advanced
standing. These academies and seminaries, exert a wholesome
influence upon a certain portion of community, and it is hoped
their influence will be, before long, generally felt in the coun-
ty, in liberalizing the views of those hitherto opposed to a ge-
neral and advanced system of education. At present, but few
of the districts of Berks county have accepted the provisions
of the law in 1835. " In many instances," says Trego, "there
has been much opposition in collecting the school taxes, build-
ing school houses, and making any improvements involving
cost. The want of good teachers has been felt here, as in
many other parts of the State; but it is believed that there is
a general improvement in the schools as well as in the disposi-
tion of the public mind on this subject."

The state of education in Lebanon county, is nearly the same
as that in Berks. There are three academies in this county,
viz: at Lebanon, Myerstow^n, and Millerstown; all, except the

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 415

last named, are in successful operation. Many gentlemen are
to be found, in both counties, ardently devoted to the cause of
education, exerting themselves in behalf of academies, semina-
ries, and common schools. These schools are the sure defences
of our country. The patriot and the christian have reason to
rejoice at the prospect of the ultimate, general adoption of the
common school system — all should exert themselves with much
anxiety, to aid in introducing the system, and supplying schools
with well qualified teachers. Who even does not know that
much depends upon teachers, to speed the labors of our legis-
lators, magistrates, and the minister of the gospel. The teach-
ers must be virtuous and intelligent, to make intelligent and
useful scholars, or to aid the cause of intelhgence ; for without
intelligence, on which the minister of the gospel, the legislator
and magistrate, can act, and principle, cultivated in childhood,
and matured in riper age, they will all act in vain. They may
as well endeavor to remove mountains, as to attempt to accom-
plish much and prominent good vathout them. For, without
these two — virtue and intelligence — it is truly said : " The Le-
gislator, the Magistrate, and the Minister, will descend into
the same gulf of ignorance and corruption."

Sabbath Schools — great auxiharies in diffusing useful and
indispensable knowledge among the junior portion of society —
are fast gaining ground. Nearly all religious denominations
foster them.

CHAPTER VIL

RELIGIOUS HISTORY

lu this chapter, brief sketches are presented, of the different
rehgious denominations that existed, and are still found, in this
part of Pennsylvania. It is not consistent with the limits of
this compilation, to notice the doctrines of each, or to trace the
origin of all. Those who wish more extensive information on
the origin, rise, progress, doctrines and statistics of the religious
denominations noticed here, and of all the sects in the United
States, are referred to the writer's work, entitled " He Pasa
Ekklesia, &c." published by Mr. James Y. Humphreys, Phila-
delphia, 1844.

If differences of opinion touching dogmas of religion and
multiplicity of sects, serve as a standard of deep toned piety
and Christian benevolence — charity in the true sense of the
Gospel, then may the people of Berks and Lebanon lay some
claim to a share of it — and it is undoubtedly true, they have
claims of the kind — for the diversity of opinion, and sects or
denominations, are not a few in Berks and Lebanon, as will be
seen from the following brief and imperfect notices.

For the want of the promised materials, so kindly proffered
by those on whom we called, or whom we addressed, the no-
tices are brief and imperfect. They are made up of "frag-
mentary rubbish,^' furnished, or gleaned at a late hour. Had
these been furnished at an earlier date, though mere fragments,

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 417

the writer could, if the reader will believe him, have rendered
these sketches more worthy of his notice.

DIE NEUGEBOHRENE, OR THE NEW BORN.

A sect that assumed the appellation, JVeio Born, existed
about the year 1717 or 1719, in Oley, headed afterwards by
one Bowman. Their peculiar tenets can only be gathered
from detached fragments: a few of them are in the possession of
the writer. From these it appears this sect existed for a pe-
riod of some thirty or forty years.

The existence of this sect has been noticed in another part
of this book — pages 233, 236.

John Peter Miller, contemporary with Bowman, speaking
of this sect, says: — "Damals, Zwischen 1717 — 1721 entstand
ein Volk in der Gegend Oly die man Ncugebohrne nanntc, und
einer Matthies Bauman zum Anfaenger hattcn. Ihr Vorgeben
war, dass sie nicht mehr koenten suendigen, in einer in
Deutschland gedruckten Schrift, genant, " Ruf an die Unvried-
ergebohrne Welt, klingt es ..wunderlich, wan Bauman sagt,
Pagina 13," Die Menschen sagen: Christus habe die Suende
hinweg genomraen, es ist war bey mir, wer sich also beiindet,
dass er also ist wie Adam vor dem Fall, als wie ich bin." Da,
says Miller, setzt er sich neben Adam vor seinem Fall.

Und Pagina 17, machet er noch einen aergern Sprung, wann
er sagt: "Wie Adam vor clem Fall war, sa bin ich gemacht,
und noch fester." Was aber die Menschen am meisten aer-
gert, war, was er Pagina 12 sagt: "Mit dem Leib kann Man
nicht suendigen vor Gott, Sondern nur vor Menschen und andern
Creaturen, und die kann der Richter schlichten." Daraus sie
gefaehrliche Folgen zogen.

Sie ruehmten sich, zu seyn nur von Gott gesandt, um die
Menschen irr zu machen, welches sie auch innerhalb zehn Jah-
ren (1725 — 1734) fleissig getrieben; also dass man oft zu
Mark-Zeit ihre Disputationen in Philadelphia mit Verwunder-
ung hat koennen anhoeren, da auch Bauman sich einst erbotten,
er wollte zum Beweiss, dass seine Lehre von Gott sey, durch
den Delaware Strohm gehen.

^ Col. Rec. 319— page antea, 233.

418 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Bey ihrem Reissen durch Conestoga, allwo sie Eingang bin
und wieder fanden, kamen sie endlich auch zum Vorsteher
(Conrad Beissel zu Ephrata) und da brachte sich Bauman v^e-^
gen der Wiedergeburt an. Der Vorsteber gab ibm kurtzen
Bescbeid, und sagte: Er sollte an seinem Unflat riecben, und
betracbten ob dieses zur Wiedergeburt geboere ; darauf sie ei-
nen spitzigen Geist nannten und davon giengen. Man hat
wargenommen, dass von derselben zeit an sie Xraft verlohren,
ihre Verfuebrung weiter aus zu breiten : und ist mit den Urstae-
ndern endlicb abgestorben. Gedacbter Bauman ist urns Jabr
1727, gestorben ; er soil sonst ein redlicber Mann gewesen seyn.
und die Welt nicbt ueber die Gebuebr gesucht baben, aber
Kuehlenwein,* Yotter, und andere senier Nacbfolger waren in
dera Weltlicben unersaetlich.

Dieser Mattheis Bauman war ein armer Tagloebner, aus der
Stadt Lamsheim, in Churpfaltz. Im Jabr 1701 ist er mit einer
barten Krankheit beimgesucht worden, da er in den Himmel
verzuckt" wurde, und Oflenbabrungen an die Menscben em-
plieng. Als er wieder zu sich selbst kam rief er bey einer
Stunde lang aus : "O ! ihr Menscben ! ! bekehret euch 1 1 1 der
juengste Tag kommtlll!" Er fielabermal in Verzuckung, und
da wurde zu ihm gesagt: "Die Menscben meinen, sie leben bey
Tage ; sie sind aber alle verkebrt bey der Nacht ! !"

Diese Verzuckungen baben vierzehn Tage angehalten, dar-
unter die letzte vier und zwanzig Stunde gewaehrt, dass man
auch meinte er waere gestorben, und Anstalt zu seinem Be-
graebniss machen liess. Als er wieder zu sich selbst kam, gieng
er zum Prediger, und sagte ihm: "Gott babe ihn wieder in die-
se Welt gesandt, den INdjenscben zu sagen, dass sie sich sollten
bekehren." Ber Prediger aber, welcher meinte, er waere im
Kopf verrueckt, suchte durch ein Weltbuch ihm die Grillen zu
vertreiben. — Chron. Ephra. page 128 — 130.

They maintained they were impeccable, or that they had
attained to a state of sinlessness. They were in their own es-
timation, 'perfect!

This is dogmatically asserted by one of them, a female in a
letter, dated Oley, May 14, 171S, to a friend of hers in Ger-
many.

"I will apprise you of my present condition. I am in a bet-

* See page 233, 34, where the original is given.

mSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBAHON COUNTIES. 419

ter state than I was while with you (in Gerfnany). Here God
has absolved me from all sin — I can sin no more ; for which I
now praise, and shall ever laud his name."

"Teachers and hearers, none of them are christians, for they
are sinners; but Christ came to destroy sin. He that is not
absolved from all sin, for him Christ has not appeared in this
world. All teachers, in the whole world, not freed from sin,
and not in an impeccable state, are false teachers, be they pious
or impious. In the kingdom of Christ, none but Christ prevails.
He that has not him is none of his ; and where he is, there man
is set free from sin."

Under date of June 10, 1747, the Revd. Muhlenberg says:
"I started from New Hanover, and eight miles from here, called
to see an aged person of the so called JVew Born, who had
married a widow woman some twenty years ago, with whom
he had five children, &c., &c. The old gentleman says he was
new born in the Palatinate. But the evidences of his being
new born, are simply these: According to his own oft repeated
declaration, that he has seceded from the Reformed Church,
and denounced the sacraments — and having refused to take the
oath of fealty to the then ruUng elector, he, with others, was
brought before the consistory and imprisoned ; and according to
his own notion, had suffered on account of Christ and the truth.
He will not hsten to any rational counsel — rejecting all reveal-
ed truth — nor will he su(Fer himself to be taught, because he is
of a weak understanding — obstinately selfish, and a man of vi-
olent passions.

"After he had arrived in this country, he united with the so
called New Born. They feign having received the new birth
through mediate inspiration, apparitions, dreams, and the like.
When one is thus regenerated, he fancies himself to be God and
Christ himself, and cannot, henceforth, sin no more. Hence
they do not use the word of God as a means of salvation. They
■scoff at the holy sacraments.*

* Hallisch Nachrichten, p. 227.

420 Hisf ORY OP BERKS AJJD LEBANOJf COtJNTItS.

THE SWEDES.

The Swedes, who first settled within the limits of the pro-
vince of Pennsylvania, as early as 1638, and within the bounds
of Berks county, prior to 1700, had, undoubtedly, erected a
church at Molatton, near Douglassville, about the year 1720
or 21. They were a "God-fearing and just people," and were
the first to build sanctuaries, and by liberal donations, to estab-
lish permanent funds for the support of the ministry in other
parts of the country. They had a church at Tinnecum Island
prior to 1675, as is evident from the following: —

"At a special court, held at New Castle, in Delaware river,
the 13th and 14th days of May, 1675, it was ordered that the
church, or place of worship, be regulated by the court here, in
as orderly and decent a manner as may. That the place for
meeting at Craine Hoeck (opposite Wilmington) do continue as
heretofore — that the church at Tinnecum Island do serve for
Uppland, and parts adjacent.

" And whereas there is no church or place of worship higher
up the river than the said Island, for the greater ease and con-
venience of the inhabitants there. It's ordered, that the magis-
trates of Uppland do cause a church or place of meeting to be
built at Wickegkoo,* the which to be for the inhabitants of
Passayunk, and so upwards. The said court being empov.'-
ered to raise a tax for its building, and to agree for a compe-
tent fund for their minister: of all which they are to give an
account to the next general court, and they to the governor for
his approbation." Signed

E. ANDROSS."

The following extracts from the "Annals of the Swedes,"
by the Rev. J. C. Clay, go to show, that they were anxious to
have the gospel preached in their new settlements, in the direc-
tion of Molatton.

"In 1705, the 'upper inhabitants' — meaning, I suppose, those
at Upper Marion, or perhaps up the Delaware, towards Bris-
tol— made application for occasional services in their neighbor-
hood, in the winter season, because of their distance from

* Wickegkoo is Wiccacce, above the Navy Yard, Philadelphia Rev.
Foot's Address, pa. 17.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 421

church. It was agreed that the rector should officiate twice
<luring the winter season.

"About the year 1720, the Rev. Samuel Hesselius settled
among the Swedes, in the lower part of Berks. This appears
!'rora the following, from the same author, Rev. Clay.

" 1720 — A meeting was held on the 27th of March, for the
transaction of business, at which four clergymen were present:
the Rev. Provost Andrew Hesselius, the Rev. Mr. Lidenius, of
Racoon and Penn's Neck, and the Rev. Moses Lidman and
Samuel Hesselius. The Provost proposed that the last named
clergyman should take charge of those portions of the congre-
gation residing at Kalkonhook and Neshamani. This was ob-
jected to by the lay members present, upon the ground that the
Swedes living in those places might become weaned from the
mother church at Wicaco.

"It being understood that one clergyman was competent to
the duties at Wicaco, it was then proposed by Lidman, that as
the people at Manatting — supposed to be MoUaton, four miles
above Pottsgrove, on the Schuylkill — were a great distance
from the church, they, perhaps, would be glad of his services
there, and that he would cheerfully relinquish to him so much
of the salary as was furnished by that part of the congregation.
Marcus Hulings, and other respectable inhabitants of that part
of the country, then present, earnestly seconded this proposi-
tion, promising to contribute to the extent of their means, to-
wards his support. It was accordingly arranged that the Rev.
Samuel Hesselius should settle at Manatting."

From all these it may be fairly inferred, that a congregation
was organized at an early date, in the southern part of Berks
county.

Molatton, for years afterward, and to this date, is an Episco-
pal church. The Rev. Muhlenberg, mentioned in the sequel,
preached statedly here.

36

422 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES-

THE QUAKERS.

The Friends, or Quakers, were next to the Swedes in preach
Ing the gospel within the borders of Berks. Two of them.
Anthony Lee and George Boone, settled in the interior of this
county, about the year 1716 — 1718, and were soon followed
by others, and without doubt, were visited by their minister?
or preachers. They, had many self-denying men at that early
date, who not only visited their brethren, but preached the gos-
pel to the tawny sons of the forest. Thomas Chalkley, who
cams from England in 1701, was of that class; as early as 1705.
he visited the Indians living near Susquehannah, at Conestoga.
ani preached the Gospel of Christ freely to them.

Some of their most eminent ministers in the county of Berks
were, Samuel Hugh, Ellis Hugh, Job Hugh, Enos Ellis, Abel
Thomas, Moses Euibree, James Iddings, Amos Lee, Peter
Thomis, Judah Thomas. The Friends were very numerous be-
tween the year 1750 and 1780; their number, at the period al-
luded to, was rising of two thousand in the county; owing,
however, to the vast emigration to the western states, their
numbsr does not, at present, exceed two hundred members. —
They have three or four meeting houses in the county; besides
the one in the borough of Reading, which was originally built
in 1751, and pulled down in 1766, and in its place the present
one story log house, built on Washington street.

The Friends, though not patrons of a classically educated
ministry, have always been the supporters of good schools. —
They have contributed much towards improving society. —
They are the friends of Peace and Universal Liberty, and of
unfettered tolerance. No where in the annals of history, can
the fino^er be pointed to this or the like sentence, as applicable
to the Quakers — "They persecuted others for opinion's sake."
This dark stain is not in their drab coats — it would show if it
were.

HISTORY OF BERKS Al^D LEBANON COUNTIES. 423

THE MENNONITES.

The Mennonites having settled about the year 1722 to '24,
in the Southern part of Lebanon county, had meeting houses
for public worship among their brethren, who were very nu-
merous for many years.

In Europe, they had been sorely persecuted, and on the in-
vitation of the liberal minded William Penn, they transported
themselves and familes, into the province of Pennsylvania, as
early as L683. Those who came in that year, and in 1698,
settled in and about Germantown. In 1709, other fami-
lies of them arrived and commenced settlements in Lancaster
county, in Pequea valley ; these were the Herrs, Meylins, Ken-
digs, and others. They were soon followed by others in 1711,
1717, 1727 — of these last, many settled in the more northern
parts of Lancaster county, within the limits of Lebanon county.

Among their first preachers in America were, John Gorgas,
John Conerads, Clas Rittinghausen, the grandfather of the cele-
brated David Rittenhouse, Jacob Gaedtschleck, Henry Kolb,
Claes Jansen, Michael Zigler, Hans Eurgholtzer, Hans Herr,
Christian Herr, Benedict Hirschi, Martin Bear, Johannes Bow-
man, Velte Cleiner, Daniel Langenecker, Jacob Beghtly Ulrich
Breckbill, Hans Tschantz — all these were ministers prior to
1735.

They continued to increase till about the year 1790 — '92,
when a certain Martin Boehm, John Neidig, ministers, and
many lay members, seceded from them, and afterwards connected
themselves witlx the United Brethren in Christ, since when
their number has diminished in Lebanon county. They still
have a number of meeting houses in this county.

The Mennonites, in this county, as is well known, have been
fur the last forty years on the decline; but the indications at
present seem rather more favorable to again resuscitate the doc-
trines, at least, among a portion of them,* which their ances-
tors so strenuously advocated.

The Mennonites never wasted money in rearing stately
houses, in which to dispense the word of life, or in erecting mas-
sive college edifices, in which to impart useful knowleege, nor
do they encourage theological seminaries. In this respect, like

* The Reformed Mennonites.

424 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

the Friends, the Mennonites of this country have been contend
to walk in the ways of their fathers, and to hear the " word of
hfe" expounded, by men of as simple taste and habits as them-
selves. Let none, however, reproach them with hostility to
useful learning — learning for life, and not for school. Holding
Peace principles, and taking little or no part in the atfairs ot
government, they teach their young men, that the first great
duty of life is, for each man to mind his own busi7iess. Prac-
tising upon this maxim, they encourage industry by their own
examples, and discourage ambition by a representation of the
evils necessarily following in its train. They spurn alike the
honors and emoluments of office. Hence they deem an educa-
tion, beyond the rudiments of a very common one, as super-
fluous, among all their members of society. They have, there-
fore, no ministers, to use a common phrase, classically educated.
This is not, however, the case in Europe.

At Amsterdam, they have a college, in which ail the useful
branches are taught. Students of theology receive instruction
in a room, containing the library, over the Mennonite chapel.
The lectures are deHvered in Latin ; and each student before
his entrance, must be acquainted with Latin and Greek. They
attend at a literary institution for instruction in Hebrew, Ec-
clesiastical History, Physics, Natural and Moral Philosophy,
&,c. The college was established nearly a century ago, and
was at first supported by the Amsterdam Mennonites alone; but
lately, other Mennonite churches sent in their contributions. —
Some of the students receive support from a public fund ; they
are all intended for the Christian ministry.*

THE BRETHREN, DIE TAEUFER, OR DUNKARDS.

This society, or members of it, emigrated from Germany and
Holland, in 1719; some of them settled in Germantown, others
in Oley, Conestoga, Muelbach, and elsewere. From a society
organized at Muelbach, Conrad Beissel seceded and formed a
new association, commonly called the Siehen Taeger, or Ger-
man Seventh-day Baptists, of whom some account has been
given in the preceding part of this book.

* Dr. Ypeij

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 425

The Brethren were numerous, from 1730 to 1745, in Oley ;
from that time on they seem to have decHned; at least, their
number in that neighborhood began, at that period, to decrease.
In the year 1724, the Dunkards held a general meeting, or
Grosse Versammlung, in Oley. Rev. Peter Miller, in his
Chronicon Ephratensa, says:

" Sie, die Dunker, nahmen sich vor, einen allgemeinen Besuch
zu machen — zu ihren Bruedern im ganzen Lande, und hierzu
ward der 23ste October, 1724 ausgesetst, als an welchem der
Besuch von Germanton absetzte, und zwar zuerst nach Schip-
pack, Falkner Schwamm, hielten Brodbrechen da bei einem
Bruder, Albertus genannt; von da reisten sie nach Oley, da sie
eine Grosse Versammlung hielten und das Brodbrechen: dan
nach ihren, Neugetauften Brueder an der Schuylkill, wo sie
Versammlung und Brodbrechen hielten, und zwei tauftcn, von
da nach Conestogo."

This appears to have been a kind of Apostolischer Kreutz-
zug. Fourteen of the Brethren travelled in company, seven
on foot and seven on horse.

Shortly after the arrival of Count Zinzendorf, there was
another General meeting held in Oley, which was composed of
Dunkards, German Seventh Day Baptists, Moravians, Menno^
uites. Separatists and others.

Im Jahr 1742, says Miller, ist noch cine Conferentz in Oley
gehalten worden, da bey Vier Vaeter der Germeinde in Eph-
rata sind erschienen — Diese Versammluno; wurde eio-entlich
von den Dunker gehalten — dann die Einsame Brueder hielten
so verdaechtig von der Sach, dass sie ji.ch nicht mehr wollten
damit einlassen. Sie hatten eir.e Schrift von Ehestand aufge-
setzt wie weit er an Gott reiche, und dass er nur seye eine
loebliche Ordung der Natur, dieselbe uebergaben sie, worauf
ein haeftiger Wortstreit erfolgte.

Der Ordinarius (Zinzendorf") sagte: Er waere keines weges
mit dieser Schrift zufrieden, er haette seinen Ehestand nicht
also angefangen, es stuende auch sein Ehestand hoeher als der
Einsamen stand in Ephrata. Die Verordenten von Ephrata
suchten die Sache wieder gut zumachen, und sagten, sie waqren
keine Feinde des Ehestands, es waeren FamiHen in der Ge-
meinde, die alle Jahr ein Kind hactten. Darueber schlug er
(Zinzendorf) die Haende zusammen, und sagte, Es wundere

36*=

426 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ihn, wie unter einem solchem wichtige Zeugniss, wie man vor-
gebe, die Menschen doch so fleischlich lebeii koenten.

Dorauf ist der Ordinarius in solchen Hefligkeiten ausgebrc-
chen, dass er von seinem Amt, auf der Conferentz, ist ab-und
ein Schlottlaender, Statt seiner, eingeselzt worden, und also
lief endlich die Conferentz zur Aergerniss aller auseinander, zu
Ende.

Miller continues — Und weilen alle Gesinntheiten dazu einge-
laden worden, wurde ich auch von meinem Vorsteher deputirt
dahin zugehen. Und als ich zum Conferentz kam, welche in
Oley gehalten worden, fand ich daselbst von unsern Taeufern,
Sieben-Taeger, Menonniten und Separatisten; der Graf aber
selbzt war Vorsitzer, daselbst hoerete ich wunderliche und
setlsame Sachen.

Als ich nun wieder heimkam, brachte ich mich bey meinem
Vorsteher an, und sagte, dass ich des Grafen Conferentz ansehe
als einen Fallstrick um einfaeltige, erwecktedente wider an die
Kindertaufe, und den Kirchengang, zu bringen, und das alle
Babel wieder aufzurichten. Wir hielten Rath, was zu thun
seye, und wurden einig, dieser Gefahr vorzukommen, weil schcn
einige Taeufer sich an dieser nichtigen Lehre vergaft hatten,
jaehrlich eine Conferentz zu halten, oder wie wir es nannten
Eine Grosse Versammluvg, und wurd zugleich Zeit und Ort
bestimmt. Diese ist der Anfang und das Fundament von den
Grossen Versammlungen der Taeufer — Chron. Eph. 128, 210.

The present number of Dunkards is comparatively small —
probably not exceeding two hundred in Berks and Lebanon
counties. Of their places of meeting, we have no estimate.

They, like the Mennonites, pay little or no attention to edi;-
cation. They are retrograding as to numbers in this part of
the country.

GERMAN SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST.

Though these took their rise in this portion of Pennsylvania,
none are to be found, at present, residing in Berks and Lebanon.
Of their rise, we have spoken. The reader is referred to pages
336-343.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 421

THE SCHWENKFELDERS.

A respectable number of these emigrated from Europe in
1734. Many of these arrived at Philadelphia the 22d Sept.,
others on the 5th October of the same year, and settled princi-
pally in Montgomery, Berks, Bucks, and Lehigh counties,
where their grand children chiefly reside at present, on the
branches of the Skippack and Perkiamen creeks, in the upper,
middle and lower end of Montgomery county, and the lower or
east part of Berks, and south corner of Lehigh.

The Rev. Wise was, it appears, one of their first ministers.
He died in 1740. His successors were Rev'ds B. Hoffman,
A. Wagner, G. Wagner, Christopher Schultz, sen,, C. Krichel,
C. Hoffman, G. Krichel, Messrs. Krichel, Schultz, B. Schultz,
A Schultz, and D. Schultz, assistants; I. Schultz, and last, the
Rev. C. Schultz, who died March 1843. The Rev. C. Schultz,
was the grandson of the Rev. Christopher Schultz, sen. — he
was an eminent scholar, and distinguished wi'iter; he was the
author of their excellent Catechism, Compendium of Christian
Doctrine of Faith ; and of their Hymn Book. He was much
esteemed as a sound Divine, and a man of undoubted piety, by
all surrounding denominations. And on account of his devo-
tedness and his eloquence, he was repeatedly called by the
Reformed, Moravians, Mennonites, and others, to preach to
them the gospel of everlasting salvation. His motto was: —
"Soli Deo Gloria, ct Veritas vincet."

The present young candidates in the Gospel Ministry of the
upper district, in Berks county, are the Rev. Joshua Schultz,
and William Schultz. In the middle and lower districts, the
Rev. B. and A. Huebner, and Rev. David Krichel.

They number about three hundred famihes; eight hundred
members; have five churches and school houses.

By their strict church discipline, they keep their members
orderly, and pure from the contaminating influence of corrup-
tion, so prevalent. They pay great attention to the education,
the religious and moral training of their children. Many of
them possess a respectable knowledge of the learned languages,
Latin, &c. There is scarce a family among them that does not
possess a well selected and neatly arranged library, among
which are manuscript copies from their learned forefathers,

428 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

which they held sacred on account of the purity of doctrine
contained therein. They encourage Sabbath schools. They
are practical temperance men. They exert a salutary influ-
ence upon the community, and it is hoped, their influence -will
soon be more widely felt.

MORAVIANS.

The Moravians took into consideration the conversion of the
heathen as early as 1727, in North i\merica. In 1735, the
Rev. Augustus Gottlieb Spargenberger, late Theolcgus Ad-
junctus of the University of fJall, in Saxony, left his nathe
country, and arrived that spring in Georgia, and remained there
till 17o7 when he came to Pennsylvania ; and after spending
some time here, he went to St. Thomas to hold a visitation
there: from thence he returned again to Pennsylvania in 1739.
Through him, it is said, tie Brethren were made attentive to
other Indian nations, having received notice of them from Con-
rad Wejser. Spangenberger returned to Europe in 1739, and
there gave an account of the deplorable condition of the Indi-
ans; whereupon Christian Henry Ranch was sent to America,
he arrived at New Yoik in 1740, in July; in the month of Au-
gust he went to Shekomeko, an Indian town, near the Stissik
mountain, on the borders of Connecticut, where he labored
;imong the Indians with success.

In 1740 Bishop David Nitschman, with a company of breth-
ren and sisters, arrived from Europe, and settled, what is now
called Bethlehem. Nazareth was soon afterwards settled.

In 1741 Count Zinzendorf came to Pennsylvania, as ordi-
nary of the Brethren, with a view not only to see their estab-
lishments in general, but especially the fruits of their labor
among the heathen. Shortly on his arrival, he proposed to hold
a synod at Oley, which, as shown in a preceding page, was held
the 11th of February, 1742, in the barn of Mr. Van Dirk,
(De Turk,) on which occasion three Indians, from Shekomeko,
were baptized.

In August, 1742, Count Zinzendorf visited the people at
Tulpehocken. Shortly after this visit, a congregation was or-
'^ranized in Bethel township, (now within the limits of Swatara

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 429

township, Lebanon county). The station was called Bethel.
The Rev, Johannes Brandmueller officiated here about the years
1743 '44. Another congregation was organized at the Hebron
station, near the present site of Lebanon, where they erected a
church on the Quitopahilla, in which they held a synod in 1748.
This building was of logs. In 1750 the ''Oratoriam," now
standing, was erected in 1750. Besides these two, there were
two erected in Heidelberg and one in Oley, between 1742 and
1750.

Conrad Weiser co-operated with the Moravians for several
years. In the month of September, 1742, he accompanied
Count Zinzendorf to Sharaokin, on the Susquehanna. While
the Count was on a visit here, an incident fraught with interest
occurred, v/hich it is thought is deserving a notice here.

Zinzendorf and his little company, pitched their tents a little
below Shamokin, on the banks of the Susquehanna. This
caused no small degree of alarm among the Indians; "a coun-
cil of the chiefs was assembled, the declared purpose of Zinzen-
dorf was deliberately considered. To these unlettered children
of the Avilderness it appeared altogether improbable that a
stranger should brave the dangers of a boisterous ocean, three
thousand miles broad, for the sole purpose of instructing tliem
in the means of obtaining happiness ajfkr death, and Ihat too
without requiring any compensation for his trouble and expense ;
and as they had observed tiie anxiety of the white people to
purchase lands of the Indians, they naturally concluded that
the real object of Zinzendorf was either to procure them the
lands at Wyoming for his own use, to search for hidden trea-
sures, or to examine the country with a view to future conquest.
It was accordingly resolved to assassinate him, and to do it
privately, lest the knowledge of the transaction should produce
war W'ith the English, who were settling the country belov/
the mountains.

" Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of
dry weeds, when the assassins approached to execute their
bloody mission. It was night, and the cool air of September
had rendered a small fire necessary to his comfort and conveni-
ence. A curtain formed of a blanket and hung upon pins, was
the only guard to the entrance of his tent. The heat of his
small fire had roused a rattlesnake which lay in the weeds not
far from it; a,nd the reptile, to enjoy it more effectually, crawlcJ

430 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

slowly into the tent, and passed over one of his legs undisco-
vered. Without, all was still and quiet, except the gentle
murmur of the river at the rapids, a mile below. At this mo-
ment, the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and
slightly removed the curtain, contemplated the venerable
man too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts, to
notice either their approach, or the snake which lay extended
before him. At a sight like this, even the heart of the savage
shrunk from committing so horrid an act, and quitting the spot,
they hastily returned to the town and informed their compan-
ions that the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they
had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large
rattlesnake crawl over his legs without attempting to injure
him. This circumstance, together with the arrival, soon after-
wards, of Conrad Weiser, procured Zinzendorf the friendship
and confidence of the Indians."* After spending twenty days
at Wyoming, he retuined to Bethlehem.

THE LUTHERANS.

Though Lutherans had emigrated into America, betweeii
1621 and 1650, and settled in New York, they had no minis-
ters of their own denomination laboring among them before-
1659. Their first minister, was Jacob Fabricius, who arrived
tliat year, and labored about eight years, when he left them, and
t.'onnected himself with the Swedish Lutheran church, at Wica-
co, now Southwark, Philadelphia, where he preached fourteen
years; during nine of which he was blind. He died in 1792.

Who the immediate successors (in New York) of Fabricius
were, is not known ; but from 1703 till 1747, their pastors
were the Rev. Falkncr, Knoll, Rochemdaler, Wolf, Hartwick,
and others. All these labored in New York.

From 1682 and onwards, a number of Germans, among
whom were Lutherans, emigrated to Pennsylvania. "The tide
of emigration, however," says S. S. Schmucker, "fairly com-
menced in 1710, when about three thousand Germans, chiefly
Lutherans, oppressed by Romish intolerance, went from the
Palatinate to England, in 1709, and were sent by Queen Ann
* Chapman's His. of Wyoming

mSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 431

to New York, the succeding year. In 1713, one hundred and
fifty faraiUes settled in Schoharie; and in 1717, we find in the
Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, that the Governor of the
province felt it his duty to call the attention of the Provincial
Council to the fact, "that great numbers of foreigners from
Germany, strangers to our language and constitution, had lately
been imported into the province. The council enacted, that
every master of a vessel should report the emigrants he brought
over, and that they should repair to Philadelphia within one
month, to take the oath of allegiance to the government,* that
it might be seen whether they were "friends or enemies to his
majesty's government."

In 1727, the year memorable alike for Francke's death, and
the origin of the Moravians, a very large number of Germans
came to Pennsylvania from the Palatinate, from Wirtemberg,
Dormstadt, and other parts of Germany. This colony, (some
of whom settled within the limits of Berks and Lebanon at an
early period) was destitute of a regular ministry ; there were,
however, some school masters and others, some of whom were
probably good men, who undertook to preach; and, as many
emigrants brought with them the spirit of true piety from Ger-
many, they brought also, many devotional books, and often read
Arndt's True Christianity, and other similar works on mutual
edification.

Among the first ministers wh6 labored among the Germans,
within the counties of Berks and Lebanon, was the Rev. Mr.
Stoever, who had collected a congregation as early as 1732,
near Lebanon, at the Berg-Kirche', and another congregation
at Tulpehocken, or RietJi's Kirche, where a congregation was
organized about the year 1730 or 1731.

Touching the Berg-Kirche, the Rev. Geo. Lochman, D. D.,
speaking of churches in Lebanon county, in 1812, says: Unter
diesan ist die Bergkirch-Gameine die aelteste. Schon im Jahr
1733 ist sie gesammlet worden, zu einer Zeit, da die Indianer
noch haeufige Einfaelle in die Gegend machten und mordeten.
Herr J. C. Stoever war zu der Zeit Prediger, und nahm sich
der zerstreuten Schafen an. Man kam zusamman, nahm ein
Vacantes Stueck Land auf, und bauete eine hoelzerne Kirche.
Anfangs bagnuegte man sich damit, dieselbe unter Dach zu-

* Col. Rec. iii, p. 18.

432 HlSToilV off BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

bringen, uiid Blocke als sitze zugebrauchen, unci erstnachman-
chen Jahren hat man sie ganz verfertigen koennen.

Der Hunger nach dem Wort Gottes, und der Eifer fuer den
Gottesdienst, muesse zu der Zeit gross gewesen seyn, den die
Zuhoerer karaen weit und breit zusammen, und ]iessen sicli
durch keinc Gefahren abhalten. Man nahm oefters die FJinte
rait zur Kirche, urn sich unterwegs, nicht nur gegen die wilden
Thiere, sondern auch gegen die noch weit wiideren Indianern
zu vertheidigen; und wenn man Gottesdienst hielt, wurden
oefters Maenner mit geladenen Gewehren auf die Wache ge-
stellt. Die Kirche steht ohngefehr vier Meilen nordwestiicij
von Libanon.*

The Lutherans in the Tulpehocken settlenaent were destitute
for some ten or fifteen, or more years, of a preacher of their
own denomination; a certain John Peter Miller, a native of
Oberant Lautern, of the electorate Palatinate, and a graduate
of the University of Heidelberg, had arrived in Philadelphia,
August 1730, and on application made to the Scotch Synod,
was ordained, came to this place, and labored as a minister
among the Germans here, several years — till 1734 or 1735. —
In a letter to a friend, he states, alluding to his labors here,
"In August 1730, I ari'ived in Philadelphia, and was there at
the end of said year, upon order of the Scotch Synod, ordained
in the old Presbyterian meeting house, by three eminent minis-
ters, Tennant, Andrews, and Boyd. Having officiated among
the Germans several years, I quitted the ministry and returned
to a private life."

The Germans generally, Lutherans as well as others, were in
a destitute condition, as to ministers, especially of their own
denominations, till, and some time after, the arrival of the ven-
erable patriarch of Lutheranisra, the "Rev. Henry Melchior
Muhlenberg, who came to this country in 1742, with qualifica-
tions of the highest order. His education was of the very first
character. In addition to his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew,
he spoke English, German, Hollandish, (Dutch,) French, Latin,
and Swedish. But wdiat was still more important, he was ed-
ucated in the school of Franke, and had imbibed a large poi-
tion of his heavenly spirit. Like Paul, he had an ardent zeal
for the salvation of his brethren, his kinsmen according to the
flesh. He first landed in Georgia, and spent a week with the
* Evan. Mag. p. 20.

HISTORY OF BEKKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 433

brethren, Bolzius and Gronau, to refresh his spirit and learn
the circumstances of his country ; and then pursuing his course
by a dangerous coasting voyage, in a small and insecure sloop,
which had no accommodation for passengers, he arrived in
Philadelphia, November 25, 1742."

Shortly on his arrival, he entered upon the discharge of his
ministerial duties — visited, besides preaching statedly in Phila-
delphia, New Hanover, &c.) other congregations, and dispersed
Lutherans in Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster counties, and
organized a number of churches.

He was soon joined in his extensive field of labor, by other
highly respectable men, of excellent education, and of spirit
like his own ; the greater part of whom were in like manner sent
horn Germany, such as Brunnholtz and Lemkeinl74D; Hand-
schub, Weygand, Kurz, and Schaum, 1748; Heinzclman and
SchuUz, 1751; Gerock, Hausil, Wortman, Wagner, Schartlin,
Shrenk, and Rauss, 1753; Bager, 17o8; Voigt and Krug, 1764;
Helmuth and Schmidt, 1769; Kunze, 1770. Some of these
labored in Berks and Lebanon.

"The greater part of these men were indefatigable" in their
labors. But none more so than Muhlenberg. Numerous and
arduous were the difficulties in his way. The population was
sparse, and in many instances unsettled. For the want of roads
in many directions, the difficulties of travelling were very great,
and in some instances, the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the
Indian impeded the way of the minister.

Muhlenberg, and his fellow ministers preached in season and
out of season, in churches, in dwellings, in barns, and in the
open air.

In the Hallische Nachrichten, page 584, Muhlenberg says,
under date of 1754. An sehr vielen Orten fehlet es nicht nur
an Haeusern, wo man das Wort in auesserlichen Ruhe vor dern
Bloecken der Schafe, Geschrei der Schweinen, Lermen der
Kuehe und Pferde, und dergleichen unvernuenftigen Creaturen,
in den an den Scheunen angebaueten Staellen predigen, und die
Sacramenten austheilen kann ; sondern es fehlt uns noch manche
an einigen Gabaueden, worin man mit der armen d^ugend di(
Schul hatten.

Muhlenberg preached in many of the churches in Berks and
Lancaster counties. June 11, 1747, he preached in Alsace
37

434 HiSTOliY OF Berks Ai^fi Lebanon counties.

township, in a church biiilt in common by the Lutherans an^l
German Reformed. The same month he preached at North-
kill and Tulpehocken. Sometimes at Molattan, and also near
Weaverstown. Speaking of these places, he says, 1753 — " Ich
natte neben meinen weitlaiiefigen Gemeine, ein Gemeinlein, aus
Englische, Schwedische, und Deutschen Gliedern bestehende
zu Molattan, ein paar Jahr rait grosser Beschwerlichkiet und
Ruin meines Leibes-Kraeften bedient.

"Unsere Teutsche Lutheraner haben mit den Reformirten,
drey Meilen von der Schwedischen Kirche (Molatton) ein ge-
mein schaeftliches Schul — und Versammlung haus gebaut u.
s.f."

He visited Reading, Heidelberg, Lancaster, &c., and preach-
ed the gospel in various parts of Berks, &c. A congregation,
as already stated, was organized, at what is known as the
Riethen Kirche, about the year 1729 or 1730. This congrega-
tion v.'^as visited by Moravian ministers, about the time Count
.Zinzendorf had visited this part of the country. They took
possession of the first building, and as a consequence, some con-
siderable dissensions arose, and a militant excitement prevailed
for some time between the parties. The Moravians were tri-
umphant for awhile; however, the church again fell into the
hands of the Lutherans. While the contest was going on, a
portion of them seceded from that congregation, and erected
the church so well known as the Die Tidpehocker Kirche, m
1743. Three wealthy members of the church, whose farms
joined, gave each five acres of land, gratuitously, for that pur-
pose. Their names deserve to be perpetuated — they were Se •
bastian Fisher, Christian Lauer, and George Unruh. Rev. To-
bias Wagner was their first pastor. He labored two years and
six months among them, when the Rev. J. Nicholaus Kurtz
succeeded him. He ministered in spiritual things to the mem-
bers of this and other congregations, for twenty-one years.
Kurtz was succeeded by Rev. Christopher Schultz, who preach-
ed here for the space of thirty-eight years. In 1811, their
present indefatigable pastor, the Rev. Daniel Ulrich, took
charge of this, and Other congregations of the neighborhood.
This has always been one of the most prominent churches in
Berks county, next to Reading, of which the following account
is given : —

BISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 435

A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CONGREGATION OF TRINITY CHURCH OF READING.

"While there is probable reason to suppose the existence of
this congregation prior to 1751, yet its history can only begin
with any degree of precision and certainty, from March 20th,
A. D., 1751, when we find Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg,
D. D., interesting himself in its welfare, while under the care
of Tobias Wagner, (a self-constituted pastor, not connected
with any clerical body,) who, Hving near the people of this
congregation, held religious service with them in a private
house.

'' The congregation having increased, and their place of wor-
iihip having been found too small, a congregational meeting was
called, on January Cth, 1752, A. D., when, after the re-elec-
tion of the officers of the previous year, viz : Peter Schneider,
Christian Brentzer, William Marx, and Abraham Brpsius— it
was resolved to build a church for the use of the congregation.
Peter Schneider and John Oehrlin were elected to superintend
the building.

"At the same time, itwas resolved to re-establish their organ-
ization, as an Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, upon the
principles of the New Testament, as embodied in the 'unaltered
Augsburg Confession,' and the symbolical books of the Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church, an article was drawn up by subscrip-
tion, to which the subscribers pledged themselves to the support
of the congregation, on the principles above mentioned, and to
the payment of the suras affixed to their names. This paper
was subscribed by forty-nine names.

"It appears that the erection of the building was commenced
at once, on a lot of ground designated by Conrad Weiser.
This lot is located on the northern side of Washington street,
near the jail, between 5th and 6th streets. The building was
of wood, of simple structure, and of ordinary size — it had a
steeple and a bell.

".The congregation, in this prosperous and growing state, de-
siring the services of a regularly ordained pastor, frequently
importuned the Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, D. D., for the same,
but as the ordained pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran church,

4C6 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

were already stationed, the worthy Father (of the Evangelical
Lutheran church) was unable to grant their request. Not dis-
couraged by their unsuccessful efforts, the congregation ap-
pointed one of its members, a delegate to attend the synodical
session, October, A. D., 1752, and to lay before this body a
letter, signed by eighty-two members of the congregation, im-
portunately asking, that a member of the reverend body might
be appointed to dehver the first sermon in the newly erected
church, as also ' to set things in good order' in the congrega-
tion.

"The appointment fell upon the Rev. U. M. Muhlenberg, D.
D., who preached the first sermon in the church, in October
15th, 1752.

" The first pastor of this congregation was'Rev. Schoertlin, of
Magunshy, who administered for the first time in the new-
church, the holy supper of the Lord, on March 1st, 1753.

■' But, as Pastor Schortlen could preach only every three
weeks, and desirous of having the services of a pastor located
among them, the congregation extended a call to Rev. Hein-
rich Gabriel Burchard Wordman, who accepted of the same,
and entered upon his duties May 20th, 1753. During his pas-
torship, the church was consecrated to the service of the blessed
Trinity, on Dominica Trinitates, (June 17th, A. D., 1753,)
and named 'The Holy Trinity Church.' Rev. H. B. G. Word-
man, leaving December 20th, 1753.

"The congregation passed successively into the hands of the

Revd. Schumacher, from March 1754, till March 1757.
" Hausile, from November 1760, till Novcm'r 1763.
" Krug, from 1764 till 1771.
" Henry Moeller, from 1775 till 1782.
« Wildbahn, from March 1782 till March 1796.

During the pastorship of Rev. Carl Frederick Wildbahn, it
was found necessary, on account of the decayed state of the
church — in which the congregation worshipped — to erect a new
house of worship, which was resolved upon and commenced in
the year 1790, and finished in 1793.

This church is located upon the same lot of ground on which
the old church stood. It is a brick church, strongly and sub-
stantially built— of the largest size, measuring 61 by 81 feet

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 437

square — having large galleries, it will comfortably seat about
1500 persons. It has a steeple 201 feet high, in which hang
three bells, the smallest of which is rung every week-day morn-
ing at 8 and 12 o'clock. The others are rung for all religious
■services.

After the removal of Rev. Wildbahn, the congregation came
under the care, successively, of Rev'ds Mareard, Lehman,
Scriba, and others, and in the year 1803, of the Hon. H. A.
Muhlenberg, D. D., who continued his pastorship, among this
people for 26 years, until 1729, when the present pastor. Rev.
J. Miller, D. I)., Wcis called to the pastorship of the congre-
gation.

Divine services had always been performed in the German
language, until the pastorship of the Hon. H. A. Muhlenberg,
D. D., who occasionally preached in the English language — -
wliich custom, for satisfactory reasons, was discontinued by
him. Since that time the German continued to be the only
language in which divine service were perfoi med, until Decem-
ber 1842, when the congregation called Rev. F. A. M. Keller,
as assistant pastor in the English language. At the present
time, divine services are administered in the German language
on the morning of every Lord's day, and in English on the
evening of the same.

In connection with the congregation, is a Sunday school and
week day school. The Sunday school has been in existence
Ibr many years. It has a morning and afternoon session on
every Lord's day, in a house erected for the purpose, measure
ing 70 by 35 feet. The number of children enrolled as mem-
bers of the school is 460. The average number in attendance
about 400.

The week day school is held in the school house of the con-
gregation, a very ancient building of stone, near the church.
The instruction is given in the German language. In earlier
years it was more numerously attended, than at present. The
present tutor is Mj. J, C\ Deininger.

The vacancies which occurred by the removal of the pastors
above named, as well as those that follow, were temporarily
supplied, as appears from the church records and Hallische
Nachrichten. The names of those who filled these vacancies
at the time are not noticed here.

This congregatipn is connected with three other country

37*

438 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

congregations, viz: — Swartzwald, Spies, and Alsace, in all of
which, Rev. J. Miller, D, D., officiates."

A few years ago, the Rev. James L. Schock, an alumni of
the Seminary at Gettysburg, accepted of an invitation to preach
exclusively in the English language, in Reading; after a short
time, he succeeded in organizing a new congregation in the
borough of Reading, and one or two in the country. Several
churches are now building by the members of his charge.

In connection with the Berg-Kirche, already mentioned, the
Rev. Stoever also preached to a congregation in Lebanon and
other places. The congregation in Lebanon worshipped for
some time in a private house; in 1766, they erected a church,
under the care of Rev. Stoever — succeeded by Muhlenberg,
Shultz, Kurz, and Geo. Lochman, who took charge of it in
1794. He preached here and at Berg Kircke, Ziegel Kirche,
Millerstown, and Campbellstown, till 1815, when he was suc-
ceeded by the Rev. Wilham G. Ernst, who has had charge of
the congregation, and still preaches at Lebanon, Millerstown,
Myerstown, Bindnagel's Kirche, and Campbellstown. The
Rev. Rothrof has also charge of several congregations in Leba-
non county. The congregation under his charge in Lebanon
is now erecting a commodious church.

Besides these ministers, others labor in this county as Luther-
an ministers — the Rev. Mr. Stein, at Jonestown, and one or
two others.

To close this imperfect sketch of the Lutheran church, a
brief memoir is added of one of their most eminent ministers.

REV. HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, D. D.

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., the father of the Lu-
theran church in America, was a native of Germany, born at
Eimbeck, Hanover, September 6th, 1711; educated in the
school of Franke, at Halle. His education was thorough, of
the very first character. He was master of the Hebrew, Greek,
Latin, French, Low-Dutch, Swedish, German and English. —
He spoke the Latin fluently, in which he addressed his clerical
brethren, more than once at their synodical meetings. He
preached in the Swedish, Dutch, German, French, and English

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 439

ianguages in America. "But what was still more important,
he was not only educated in the school at Ilalle, but he imbibed
a large portion of the heavenly spirit of Franke. the founder
of the Orphan House at Halle."

"Like Paul, Muhlenberg, had an ardent zeal for the salva-
tion of 'his brethren, according to the flesh.' He left his na-
tive country early in 1742 ; sailed for Georgia — on his arrival
there, he spent a week with his brethren, Bolzius and Gronau,
to refresh his spirit and learn the circumstance of the country ;
and then pursuing his course by a dangerous coasting voyage,
in a small and insecure sloop, which had no accommodation for
passengers, he arrived in Philadelphia, November 2-5, 1742.

"During this voyage, all on board endured many privations;
and being delayed and tossed about by contrary winus, suffered
much for want of water. So great was the destitution of wa-
ter, that even the rats ate out the stoppers of the vinegar bot-
tles, and by inserting their tails, extracted the cooling liquid,
and drew them through their mouths. And some of these ani-
mals had also been seen licking the perspiration from the fore-
heads of the sleeping mariners.*

" The Lutheran churches were ina deplorable condition when
he arrived; for there were but five or six organized Lutheran
churches in Pennsylvania, at the time — one at Philadelphia, one
at Providence, (the Trappe,) one at New Hanover, a few miles
above the Trappe, one in Lebanon, the Berg-Kirch, under the
Rev. Stoever's care; Rieth's Kirche, in Tulpehocken, and one
at York, whose first pastor was, Rev. Mr. Candler — all these
he visited repeatedly. In passing back and forth in visiting the
destitute Germans, he formed the acquaintance of Conrad
Weiser, Esq., in 1743, and whose daughter Maria was given
him in marriage, in 1745. Speaking on this subject, Muhlen-
berg says: — "Im Jahr 1743 ward Conrad Weiser mit mir be
kannt — und gab mir seine Tochterf zur Ehegennossin." At this
time he resided at Philadelphia.

The same year he married, he moved from the city, and set-
tled at Providence, or Trappe. In 1761 he was, however,

* Hal. Nach., 9.

t Maria Weiser, born at Schoharie, June 27, 1727, was baptized by the
Rev. William Christopher Bockenmeyer, Lutheran minister — sponsors, Ni-
cholas Feg and wife. Was married to the Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, in Hei-
delberg township, Pa., 1743, in her 16th year. Priv. Jour. C. W.

440 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

again recalled to Philadelphia, where he labored thirteen years.
Leaving his son Henry, who had previously been appointed his
colleague, in charge of the congregation in Philadelphia, he
returned to Providence, or Trappe, in 1774, where he contin-
ued to reside till his death, October 7, 1787. His body rests
in the burial ground at the Trappe church. His tombstone has
this inscription:*

Hoc Monumenium

Sacrum esfo memoriae heati ac venerahilis

Henrici Melchior Miihlenherg S. Theolog. Doctor

ct Senioris Qninistei'ii, Lvtheran A^mericani

Xati Sept. 6, 1711, defimcti Oct. 7, 1787.

Qualis et quantus Jnerit non

ignorabunt sine lapide

futura Saecula.

He had labored for nearly half a century with indefatigable
zeal, whilst Edwards was co-operating with the extraordinary
outpourings of God's spirit in New England, and the Wesley's
were laboring to revive vital godliness in England; whilst
Whiteheld was doing the same work in England and America ;
and the successors of Franke were laboring to evangelize Ger-
many: Muhlenberg was striving with similar zeal and fidelity,
to do the work of God among his German brethren in this
western world.

Of him, as also of some of his early associates, it may be
said, that "he was in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
])erils of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by
the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
perils in the sea, in peiils among false brethren, in weariness
and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

" He preached in season and out of season, in churches, in
dwelhngs, in barns, and in the open air, until at last that divine
Master, whom he so faithfully served, received him into the
society of the apostles and prophets at his right hand, Oct. 7,
1787.t

* His Coll. Pa., p. 487.

1 He Pasa Ekklesia, 383, 384.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 441

THE GERMAN REFORMED.

It has already been stated, that from 16S2, and at different
intervening periods, Germans emigrated to North Carolina, New
York, and the province of Pennsylvania. From 1708 to 1720
thousands of Germans, to flee from oppression, and to seek a
place of security, emigrated from the Palatinate, and other
parts of Germany, to England, thence sailed to New York, and
afterwards settled at Schenectady, Schoharie, and other parts
of New York. In one of these settlements, at a comparatively
early period, the German Reformed had a church in Weiscrs-
dorjy. The Revd. Frederick Ileger, a Reformed minister
preached here in 1720, and the Rev. John Jacob Oehl, a Ger-
man Reformed minister was, it appears, his successor. The
Revds. John Bernhard von Duehren, and William Christian
Bockenmeyer, Lutheran ministers, are mentioned by Conrad
Weiser, in his Private Tage Buck, as having preached in that
part of New York, between 1720 and 1724.

A large number of Germans arrived in Philadelphia, between
1715 and 1726, who, in the language of Father Muhlenberg :
" Hatten zwar Prediger mit genommen, oder zufaeiliger Weise
bekommen." With these, they also brought some schoolmas-
ters, of whose services they accepted as teachers for their chil-
dren, and as readers of sermons for themselves — the two might,
at present, be prohtably united. Schoolmasters and sermon
readers, should not be considered incompatible callings. Un-
fortunately for the German churches, those illy qualified school-
masters, after reading sermons a short time, dreamed themselves
qualified, assumed the sacred offices, to the non-edification of
their hearers. Of this class was one J. C. Wirts, of Zurich.*

The early history of the German Reformed church, for the
want of early records, is involved in obscurity. "It would
seem," says Professor Nevin, " that the church at Goshenhop-
pen, in Montgomery county, is entitled to the highest antiquity
among the early organizations. There is said to be documen-
tary evidence of its having been in existence from the year
1717. The first pastor, it would seem, was the Rev. Henry

* Wirts, some years afterwards, made application to the Rev. Schlatter,
to enable him to obtain, from the mother country, a regular ecclesiastical
induction to the ministry. — Schlatter's Journal.

442 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Goetschy, whose labors, however, in the end, inckided a wide
field besides. He preached statedly to congregations at Skip-
jack, Falconer Swamp, Saucon, Egypt, Maccungi, Moselem,
Oley, Eern and Tulpehocken — his circuit comprising a district
which is now covered by four counties — Montgomery, Chester,
Eerks and Lebanon."

In 1727, a large number of Palatines arrived, among whom
was the Rev. George Michael Weis, V. D. M., a native of
Stebback, in Neckerthal, Germany. He v\as a graduate of
Heidelberg University — a profound scholar. " He spoke,"
says the Rev. Jedediah Andrews, " Latin, as readily as we do
our vernacular tongue." After remaining here a few years,
Weis, in company with an elder of the name of Reif, visited
Holland, and other parts of Europe, about the year 1730, for
the purpose of making collections in aid of the feeble congre-
gations of Pennsylvania. Great interest was taken in their
mission. Mr. Weis was received by the Synods of North and
South Hqlland, as well as by smaller judicatories, with the
greatest cordiality and regard."

In 1731, the Rev. Johannes Bartholomaeus Rieger, a native
of Oberingelheim, Palatinate, and graduate of Basel and Hei-
delberg, arrived at Philadelphia. He took charge of a congre-
gation at Seltenriech's, near New Holland, Lancaster county,
and visited the dispersed German Reformed in other parts of
the county.

Though the demand for German Reformed ministers was
great, we find but the names of Goetsch}-, Weis, Rieger,
Bochm and Dorstius, among them in Pennsylvania, till the year
1740. Still the church abroad, especially the church in Hol-
land, carried the destitute churches here in her heart; an evi-
dence of which appears in the fi^ct, that not long before 1741,
she had taken care to forward for their use, one hundred and
thirty German Bibles, which v>'ere now waiting for distribution
in the city of Philadelphia.

" No direct communication, however, was maintained with the
distant spiritual plantation. But, in the year 1746, the Lord
stirred up the heart of his faithfnl servant in Switzerland, to
feel a more than usual solicitude in behalf of the German Re-
formed church in America. This was the Rev. Michael Schlat-
ten, of St. Gall." Having learnt the destitute condition of the
churches in this country, relinquished his pastoral charge, and

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 448

"with a cortiraendable missionary zeal, set out for Amsterdam,
with a view of being sent out regularly from that place. The
Classis of Amsterdam was regarded as having proper jurisdic-
tion over the German Reformed congregations in America, as
well as over the Dutch. To this body, therefore, Mr. Schlatter
applied for his commission to visit the destitute American
churches. His application was accepted ; and he received
a formal appointment — embarked for America, June 1st, 1746,
and on the 21st of July arz'ived at Boston. And on
the 6th of September, he came to Philadelphia, where the el-
ders of the Reformed Church received him with much tender
affection and ioy.

"On the 7th Sept." says Schlatter, in his Journal, "I werrt
to Witpen, 16 miles, to visit the oldest German preacher in
this vicinity, the Rev. J. B. Boehm. The venerable man re-
ceived me in the most friendly manner, and promised, after be-
ing made acquainted with my commission and instructions, to
assist me heartily in counsel and in deed, which he also did to
the extent of his power."

After visiting the Rev. P. H. Dorstius in Bucks county, and
the Rev. G. M. Weis, at Goschenhoppen. Rev. Schlatter and
Weis, "went in company over the mountain to Oly, and the
following day to Lancaster, on Conestoga, to visit the Rev,
Rieger and his church;" Mr. Boehm, having in the mean time
gone to Tulpehocken, to collect the two churches together, and
preach a sermon preparatory to the communion; the Rev'ds
Schlatter and Weis returned to Tulpehocken, where on the
25th Schlatter preached, as he expresses himself, with much di-
vine assistance, and not without a blessing, to a congregation
of more than six hundred persons assembled in a wooden build-
ing. The congregation listened to the publication of the word
of God with much devout attention. The ardent desire for edi-
fication, and a regular organization, and the hope of obtaining
a stated preacher might have been read in their countenances.
They could not conceal the exceeding joy and surprise they
felt in seeing three preachers together — a circumstance which
had never been witnessed there before. The old and the young
shed tears of joy. I can only say, that this was to me, and to
ray brethern, a day of much refreshment. I thought of the
blessed Netherlands, where the company of heralds of the Gos-
pel is numerous, while this extensive country is perishing for

444 HISTORY OP BERKS AJiiD LEBAifON (JOUNTlESi

lack of teachers. This lar<^e church has never had a regular
pastor. Mr. Boehra has administered the communion hiere an-
nually, twice — travelling eighty miles from Philadelphia, for the
purpose. After sermon, with the assistance of Mr. Boehm, I
dispensed the holy communion to upwards of a hundred mem-
bers.

"I afterwards infoniied them of my commission from the mo-
ther country, and made the same proposition to them, which I
had made to the churches in Philadelphia and Germantown. —
They obhgated themselves to support a preacher in the two
churches, situated five miles apart, consisting of about five hun-
dred members; promising in money and produce about £50, as
will appear by the Call forwarded on the 13th of October, to
the Rev. Committees of the two Synods, and to the Classis ot
Amsterdam. I also chose Elders and Deacons, with the ap-
probation of the church, and ordained them.*

The number of regularly ordained German Reformed minis-
ters was small. There were but five, including Schlatter ;
namely, Mr. Dorstius, who was stationed in Bucks county; Mr.
Rieger in the neighborhood of New HoHand, Lancaster coun-
ty; Mr. Weis in the region of Goshenhoppcn; Mr. Boehni,
now an old man, about 15 miles fi'om Philadelphia. A Mr.
Jacob Lischy, it is true, preached at York, but was formerly a
leader and ordained teacher, or preacher of the Moravians. He
accepted a call from the German Reformed congregation at
York, in 1745.

■' A few years after, Schlatter came, the Rev. Bartholoraaeus,
and two young men, students of theology, arrived — David
Marinus and Jonathan Dubois. Messrs. Conrad Templcman,
at Swatara, and J. C. Wirts, of Sacany, were on probation, as
appears from the minutes of the Coetus, held at Lancaster,
Oct. 20, 1749.

The Rev. Bartholomaeus took charge of the congregation- at
Tulpehocken, in 1748. His successors were the Revds. H. W,
Stoy in 1752, Wilham Otterbeinin 1758, Johannes Waldschmidt
in 1785, Johann Jacob Zufall in 1766, Wilham Hendel, sen.
in 1769, Andreas Horitz in 1785, Mr. Wagner in 1787, Wil-
liam Hendel, D. D. 1793. Thomas H. Leinbach, the present
pastor, in 1826.

* Schlatter's Journal.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 445

The Rev. William Otterbein, whose name is held in venera-
tion by many in this country, was born in Nassau, Dillinberg,
Germany, on the sixth day of November, 1726.

A friend, to whom we had applied, furnished the following
brief memorial of Otterbein : —

" The time of Otterbein's arrival is unknown to me. From
the records of the congregation at Lancaster, it appears that
he became the pastor of that church in 1752. This is the first
notice of him that I have found. It is probable that he had
then but recently arrived in America; and this probability is
strengthened, by the fdct that the Rev. Mr. Schlatter returning
from his visit to Holland, Germany and Switzerland, in behalf
of the Reformed churches in this country, arrived at New York
on the 27th of July, 1752, and brought with him six newly
ordained ministers, who were destined for the churches of Penn-
sylvania. [Hallische Nachrichten, p. 502.] As Mr. Otter-
bein's name occurs frequently after this time, and not at all
before, there is little doubt that he was one of these. In the
autumn of 1758, meditating a visit to his native country, and
undecided about returning to America, he resigned his charge
at Lancaster ; but the dangers of the approaching season, and
of the war with France, which then prevailed,"determined hini
to defer his voyage, in the hope of an early peace, until the
ensuing spring ; and to be usefully employed in the interval, he
took the charge, temporarily, of two congregations in Tulpe-
hocken. The war continuing, he remained in the same place,
and in the fall of 1760, in pursuance of the wishes of the Coe-
tus, he transferred his labors to Fredericktov/n, in Maryland,
which is described as a large but very remote congregation,
that could not be reached, like Tulpehocken, by supplies from
neighboring churches. Before this time, he had been proposed
as successor to Messrs. Rubel and Stoy, in the distracted con-
gregation of Philadelphia, but dechned. In 1761 the congre-
gations of Reading and Oley, in Berks county, presented a call
for him to the Coetus, which he also declined, on the ground
that he could not relinquish a charge he had so recently as-
sumed. Four years later, about the first of ISfovember, 1765,
he removed to York, Pa., where he labored in the ministry
until April, 1770, His long meditated voyage to Europe was
now undertaken, and he left his flock to visit his home and his
38

446 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

friends in Germany, with the design, however, to return to hi^
labors here, if God permitted: and agreeably to this purpose
lie did return, after an absence of about 17 months, and re-
sumed his ministry among the same people, in September, 1771.
In April, 1774, he took the pastoral caae of tha new church in
Baltimore. The Reformed congregation in that city, then un-
der the care of the Rev. Christopher Faber,* had been rent by
a division in 1770 ; when a strong party, alleging that the pas-
tor's ministry was cold and unedifying, seceded from the church
and built a new house of worship, having for their spiritual
guide a young man of piety and talents, of the name of Swope.
The Coetus wishing to re-unite the two parties, decreed that
both incumbents should withdraw, and their adherents be united
under another, who might be acceptable to all. Mr. Faber
retired and went to Taneytown, Md. Mr. Swope's party
would not suffer him to go. In consequence of this refusal,
their opponents called a Mr. Wallauer. Upon the removal
of Mr. Swope, the same party called Mr. Otterbein, who ac-
cepted their call. He was censured by the Coetus, though
informally; but he asserted his right to be governed, in such a
case, by his own convictions ; and the Coetus ultimately sanc-
tioned the act, and recognized both congregations. The new
church seems to have consisted of the more pious portion of the
old congergation. Mr. Otterbein was more attentive to inter-
nal piety than to external forms, and pursued a course in his
ministry, which to many others appeared new and objectiona-
ble : and from this cause arose a coolness between his brethren
and him, which eventually alienated him, in a measure, from
the judicatories of the church. In his person, Mr, Otterbein
was portly and dignified ; in his manner, urbane, affectionate,
and of child-like simplicity. He had been well educated, and,
to the close of his life, read Latin authors with as much ease
as those in his vernacular tongue. His piety was unfeigned
and glowing — his preaching solenm and impressive: but his
voice was weak, and his utterance, at least in his old age,
somewhat indistinct. The consistory of the church, in Phila-
delphia, in a letter to the Fathers in Holland, dated February,
1760, even where they indulge in an illiberal insinuation, bear
this testimony : ' He is a worthy man, and by reason of his
conduct in hfe, greatly beloved.' He went frequently on jour-
* A different person from the Rev. J. Theob. Faberj of GoshefiHdppen.

BSSTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 447

neys to minister to remote and destitute congregations, and his
ministrations left every where a gratetui- impression upon the
hearts of his auditors. In the latter part of his life, his Judg-
ment failed, and left the goodness of his heart to be sometimes
much abused by false pretenders. He died November 17, 1813,
aged 88 years."

The early settlers of Alsace township were German Re-
formed, French Reformed, or Huguenots, Swedes and Germans.
The two former classes held Calvinistic tenets ; the latter were
Lutherans. Tradition has it, that the Huguenots and German
Reformed, held religious meetings within a mile or two of Read-
ing, and in conformity with the good custom of their fathers in
Europe, conducted their worship in the evening as well as in
the day — they cultivated a spirit of genuine piety — they met
after night in each other's houses, for social prayer. In this
they imitated the example of primitive Christians. For the
purpose of public worship they erected a church, more than
one hundred and twenty years ago — it was a log building.
After some of the Swedish and German Lutherans had settled
in' Alsace, they asked, and obtained privilege in the same old
house — in which both congregations of the neighborhood wor-
shipped, unitedly, till about the year 1751, when the Luther-
ans broke off, and erected a house of worship in Reading.

The GerraauJ Reformed also, shortly aftervrards, purchased
a lot on Seventh street, erected a house on it, in which
they worshipped till the old stone church was erected in 1761.
The Rev. Michael Schlatter, and Johan Conrad Steyner, re-
peatedly visited this and other congregations.

They were, it seems, destitute for some time of a regularly
settled pastor. At a Coetus, held at Lancaster, April, 1755,
it appears from the Protocol, that Adam Coerper, an Elder,
represented the interests of the congregation at Reading. At
the same Coetus appeared Elders John Loescher and Casper
Griefheimer, from Oley, and gave an account of the church o£
that neighborhood. The Elders united and petitioned for a
minister, or supplies. The Revds. Weis, Schlatter, Leydick,
Waldsmith and Sttyner, were appointed as supplies for Read-
ing and Oley.

The first stated pastor in Reading, was the Rev. John Wil-
liam Boos, who commenced his labors in 1771, who was sue-

448 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

ceotled by the Rev. Nebling, 1782; Bernhart Willy, 1784;
John William Ingolcl, 1786; the Rev. Boosagain in 1789; he
was then succeeded by the Rev. Philip Rhinehold Pauli, who
preached here till 1814, when his son, William Pauli, took
charge of this and other congregations connected with the
Reading charge. Under his pastoial care, the present church
edifice in Pleading, was erected in 1832. The present pastor,
the Rev. John Conrad Bucher, succeeded Mr. Pauli in 1842.
Mr. Bucher was the first who introduced regular English
preaching.

The present number of German Reformed churches, some
of which are held jointly by them and Lutherans, is between
thirty and forty in Berks county. The pastois residing, or
preaching in this county, are, as far as we could learn, the fol-
lowing, the Revds. L. "C. Herman, Philip Moyer, Mr. Hassin-
ger, Mr. Bossier, A. L. Herman, Mr. Schultz, Charles G. Her-
man, J. Sasaman Herman, William Pauli, Augustus Pauli, J.
C. Bucher, Isaac Miesse, and William Hendel, D. D., at Wom-
melsdorf, without a charge — all of whom preach German, and
only one or two preach in English.

\Vith this number of pastors — "if they will pursue the course
which the Saviour took, and the apostles pursued, the couise
which the prophets went, in which the Reformers trod, and
which the faithful minister of God in every age has pursued,
ignorance, impiety, apathy in matters of religion, selfishness,
and all the polluted offspring of the flesh, would soon be ban-
ished from the church, and she vv^ould, ere long, present that
purity and loveliness which the Bride of Christ should exhibit."
All who see the present condition of the German Reformed
Zion, and pray, " Thy Kingdom Come," must devoutly wish
for a more general reformation.

It appears that, besides at tlie Tulpehocken church, there
was none ministering in spiritual things within the present lim-
its of Lebanon county, prior to 1748, except Mr. Conrad Tem-
pleman, who, it seems, from the minutes of Coetus, held at
Lancaster in October, 1749, had, though he was not regularly
ordained, preached at Swatara.

The Rev. J. B. Rieger, as a supply, took charge of a con-
gregation at Shaefferstown, as early as 1754 or 55; at the same
time, the Rev. Johannes Waldsmith was stationed at Cocalico.
Templeman preached at Lebanon and Swatara, till the year

HISTORY OF BEEKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES, 44^'

1760, when through physical inability, he ceased officiating ia
the church. At a Coetus, held at Philadelphia, October 21
and 22, 1760, it is recorded, in relation to him. " Templeman
is stoek hlynd, predikt maer zeer ZeldrauTn in zyn eygen huis,^'
i. e., Templeman is stark blind, he preaches for some time irv
his own house.* It also appears that there was a vacancy at
Tulpehocken, as well as at Swatara, ^bout 1761. The IVIin-
utes of that date, state " Tulpehocken und Schwatara, w'arten
mit Schmerzen fuer einen Prediger — gleichfals Reading und

Templeman was succeeded by theRevd. John Conrad Buch-
er, in 1768, who was succeeded by the Revd. Runkel in 1780,
or 1781. Runkel's successors were the Revd. Loop, Hiester,
Kroh, Henry Wagner, the present pastor of the churches at
Lebanon, Jonestown, Anville, Millerstown, &c.

At present, there are but three German Reformed ministers
stationed, and residing within the limits of Lebanon county.
These are the Revd. Leinbach at Tulpehocken, Wagner at
Lebanon, and John Gring at Stumptown — and in all, about
fifteen congregations, numbering rising of two thousand mem-
bers.

We shall close this imperfect sketch of the German Reformed
church, with biographical notices of the Revds. P. R. Pauli,
John Conrad Bucher, and Michael Schlatter.

* It IS note-worthy here, that the greater part of the proceedings, reports,
&c of the Coetes of the German Reformed Church were, until towards the
closefof the eighteenth century, conducted in Dutch or Latin. The extract
above, from the Minutea, is Dutch — not German

38^

EIOGRAPIilCAL SKETCHES.

REV. PHILIP R. PAULI.

Philip Reinhold Pauli was born on the 22d of June, 1742,
in the city of Magdeburg, in Prussia. His father, Ernest L,
Pauli, was superintendent, consislorial counsellor, and court
preacher, at the principality of Bernbuig. He commenced his
studies at the public school in Magdeburg, and afterwards was
removed to the Soachim-Gynasium in Berlin: and finally com-
pleted his education at the Univeisities of Halle and Leipzig.
He spent considerable time, according to the best information,
after closing his studies, in travellii g through Europe with a
wealthy uncle. He arrived in this country in 1788, after an
exceedingly distressing and dangerous voyage.

He began his useful labors in this country as a teacher of an
Academy in Philadelphia, where he remained six years, and
received the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He came to
this country unmarried, and the 14th of February, 1784, was
united to Elizabeth Musch, dauglitcr of Mr. John Musch, of
Easton, Pa. From the year 1789, he devoted himself to the
work of the ministry, and for some years was pastor of the
churches in Shippach and its vicinity. In 1793 he commenced
his labors at Reading, as pastor of the G. R. Church, which he
prosecuted with zeal and activity for 21 years and 9 months.
In addition to his ministerial labors, he kept for several years
a select Latin and French school. He seldom wrote his ser-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 4-51

nions, but collected materials for them during the week, and on
Saturday arranged them into a regular disposition or skeleton.
His sermons were generally simple and affecting; especially at
funerals, where he seldom preached without weeping or causing
others to shed tears. His church was generally well fdled.
His leisure hours were generally employed in reading, or visit-
ing his members. As it respects the catechising of children,
he generally devoted, during the summer season, the sabbath
afternoon to this pleasing task, and previous to the confirmation
of youth, he usually gave them instruction regularly for about
two months. He was regular in attending synodical meetings,
and always took an active part in the passing business. He was
frequently invited to attend consecrations, and other public
meetings, even at considerable distances. He was mild, cheer-
ful, and generous in his disposition, and regular in his habits
and course of life. He died on the 27th of January, I8I0, and
his departure was a sweet sleep, that transferred him to a bet-
ter world. On the following sabbath his mortal remains were
committed to the tomb. Notwithstanding the inclemency of
weather, a large congregation assembled to offer the last testi-
mony of regard to their aged pastor. The Rev. William Hen-
del delivered an appropriate funeral sermon on 2 Kings, ii, 12,
in the large Lutheran church, after which the procession moved
to the Reformed church, where a short but impressive address
was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Dechant, Der Herr segne seine
ascbe. W. P.

452 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANOK COUNTIES.

THE REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER, '

As already stated, was a native of St. Gall, in Switzerland ;
and, undoubtedly, a graduate of the Protestant college, which
has, at present, fourteen professors. When but quite a young
man, he took a pastoral charge, but in consequence of informa-
tion he had received of the destitute condition of the German
Reformed churches in America, he relinquished his charge, and
being a man of ardent temperament, and withal possessing much
of the romantique, perhaps preponderating firmness and deci-'
sion, — inspired with the zeal of a missionary, he at once set
set out to visit his countrymen in the new world, and minister
to them in things spiritual, " in the church and in the field."

He accordingly repaired to Amsterdam, to obt;iin from the
Classis, there, such credentials as were requisite. He obtained
them from the Classis, and from the Synods of North Holland,
in conjunction, a general commission to visit the churches, en-
quire into their condition, and organize, and as far as possible
improve them.

He embarked on board of a ship at Amsterdam, June 1st,
1746, " and sailed for Boston, in North America, after having
committed," says S. in his journal, "myself to the guidance and
protection of God." On the 11th we ran into the Orkney
Islands on the North of Scotland, and remained till the 23d,
during which time we only saw the sun on two days. The in-
habitants, who appear to be people of good disposition, assured
us, that in those regions usually have nine months of winter,
two of rough weather, and only about one month of good
weather during the year.

After this we proceeded prosperously in our voyage until we
reached Newfoundland. On the 24th July we fell in, during
an exceedingly dark night with Sable Island, a very dangerous
place, at no great distance from Cape Breton, and I cannot re-
call to mind, without shuddering, and at the same time thanks
to God, the imminent danger we were in of losing all, and per-
ishing in the wild waves, had not God, who is mighty to re-
deem, rescued us contrary to all our expectations, and gianted
us, when we called upon him in trouble, deliverance Irom all
our suffering, and brought us safely to Boston, our desired

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES:. 453

haven, in seven days, where we offered him our bounden tribute
of thanksgiving.

In Eoston — the largest and most populous city of the English
Colonies in America, containing about 3000 well built houses — •
1 was received with much affection and kindness by the hon-
orable Mr. J. Wendel, a distinguished Holland Merchant, and
a member of the Government. This reception allayed the anx-
ieties I had felt on entering a land of strangers, and confiimed
my hope, that God would make my way prosperous. Aftei-
having sent on my baggage to Philadelphia and New York by
water through the favor of my distinguished friend, I set out on
the 4th of August on my journey by land, in the agreeable so-
ciety of Dr. Eekman.

On the 7th, after travelling 70 English miles, we arrived at
Newport, a considerable town on R-hcde Island, which posses-
ses a convenient and safe harbor, from which ships can run into
the sea in the course of one hour. On the 11th, having tra-
velled 230 more of these miles, we reached New York, or New
Amsterdam, the capital of the province of New Netherlands,
containing about 2000 houses. This city, as well as Long Island,
and other places in the vicinity, and the shores of the North
liiver to Albany, and the country beyond more than 250 miles,
and even to Canada, is for the most part settled with well dis-
posed natiA^e Low-Dutch inhabitants. During my stay in the
city I received very special attention and kindness from t'he
three Dutch preachers, but particularly fiom the venerable
Father Du Bois, who is highly esteemed both by the English
and the Dutch, and who has already labored in the ministry
here for more than 50 years, and reached the age of SO. This
is another proof that this climate is. as healthy as that of Eu-
lope. Indeed, from m.y ovrn experience, I can truly testify,
that often, when seeing the towns, the level country, the cli-
mate, the prudent inhabitants, living in the same manner, and
enjoying the same education, business and pursuits, and scarcely
distinguishable in any thing from Europeai^s, I have hardly
been able to persuade myself that I was, in reality, in a distant
quarter of the world.

On the 6th September I came to Philadelphia, 95 miles from
New York, where the Elders of the German Reformed church
received me with much tender affection and joy, and provided

454 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

lodgings for me with one of their number, in whose house I
resided for eight months, though at my own expense.

On the 7th I went to Witpen, 16 miles, to visit the olde'st
German pf eacher in this vicinity, the Rev. J. B. Boehm, (whom
the Lord has since released from his post.) The venerable man
received me in the most friendly manner, and promised, after
being made acquainted with my commission and instructions,
to assist me heartily in counsel and in deed, which he also did
to the extent of his power.

Sept. 8. I w^ent out, 8 miles, to see Mr. J. Reif, and to re-
quire of him, according to the instruction of the Synods, an
account of the monies collected in Holland, by him and Mr. G.
M. Weis, sixteen years before (1731) for the benefit of the
Pennsylvania churches. When he declared himself ready, I
iixed the time of twelve days, and gave him the liberty to name
the place of meeting for the purpose.

In order to lose no time, I returned immediately to Philadel-
phia, to make enquiry respecting the German bibles wdiich had
been sent thither some years before by the affectionate care of
the Synods of Holland. I found them without much difficulty,
in the careful hands of the honorable Benjamin Schumacher,
who, when he saw my commission, and learned that the freight
had been paid in Rotterdam to Mr. Z. Hoppe, cheerfully gave
over to me one hundred and eighteen copies, all w^ell preserved,
without any charge for expenses. I sent, or carried one of
these bibles to nearly every one of the churches in Pennsylva-
nia for tlie use of the pulpit ; fifty were placed at the disposal
of the overseers of the churches, to be distributed according to
their discretion for the benefit of the poor ; others I lent to
this and that poor man, to awaken and confirm their zeal for
reading and examining the word of God. Six or eight of them
I sold, in order to purchase catechisms for the school children,
and about twenty-four copies still remain in my hands, to be
disposed of as necessity may require.

On the 11th I administered the holy communion to about
one hundred members in Philadelphia. Mr. Boehm assisted in
this service. On the loth I received a letter from Messrs. Weis
and Reif, inviting me to the house of latter on the 21st to set-
tle their accounts.

In the meantime I souf^ht to restore order to the church of

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTlEl?, 455

Philadelphia, and unite it with Germantown in the support of
a pastor, who may preach in both churches on every Lord's
day.

The 16th I went into Bucks county, sixteen miles, to pay
ray respects to Mr. P. H. Dorstius, who, when made acquaint-
ed with ray instructions, received me in a most friendly and
fraternal manner, offered to render me his assistance, and pro-"
raised to arrange his vestry at a convenient time, and give me
information; after which, I returned to the city."

Schlatter had now entered his missionary field. He com-
menced to visit all the German Reformed ministers, and the
destitute churches in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

In the month of September, 1746, he visited the Rev. G. M.
Weis at Goshenhoppen. Mr. Weis had recently fled from his
church at Rhiraebeck, near Albany, N. York, on account of
the war. In the same month he visited the Rev. Rieger, in
Lancaster county; the churches at Tulpehocken, where he or-
ganized several congregations. In the course of 1747, he or-
ganized six or seven congregations in Pennsylvania, besides
visiting all the churches in Pennsylvania, and one or two at
New Jersey. In 1748, he visited congregations in Maryland
and Virginia. After spending several years in the faithful dis-
charge of his officer, he returned to Ilolland, in 1751, wher«
he laid a journal of his proceedings before the Synod.

Schlatter, faithful to his trust, and representing the true state
of the German churches in Pennsylvania — stating that he found
the harvest great — the laborers few, and thousands living here
where the hght of the Gospel reached them rarely, if ever; and
that the greater portion was destitute of the means of the know-
ledge of salvation.

He made warm appeals to the Fathers of Holland — his ap-
peals deeply affected them, and they accordingly devised a
a plan and raised funds, to relieve and instruct the poor Ger-
mans and their descendants in Pennsylvania.*

A society of noblemen and gentlemen, for this purpose was
organized, and the Rev. Schlatter was constituted Visitor, or
Superintendant General of Schools opened by them in Pennsyl-
vania ; a duty which, on his return from Europe, he discharged
with fidelity, though with much opposition from various quar-

* See page 99, &c., antea.

466 HistorV of berks and Lebanon counties.

ters!! This opposition, probably induced him to relinquish hi.*
Visitorial trust, and accept of a station "in the field."

In 1756, he was appointed General Chaplain to the British
Army, by General LoUdon of the fourth battahon of the Royal
army of North America. He accepted the appointment. To
other places besides, he also accompanied the army to Nova
Scotia. In 1759, returned in good health, to Philadelphia. —
The last notice we find of him, is in the Hallische JYachrickten,
in which the Rev. Muhlenberg mentions that he staid with him
all night, December 5th, 1762.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNT lES. 457

REVD. BUCHER.

The Rev. John Conrad Bucher, a name associated with
the Church and State of this country, whose genealogy has been
preserved and recorded, consecutively, through twenty-nine
different families, from January 21st, 1541, till it reaches the
Hon. John C. Bucher, of Harrisburg, the grandson of the sub-
ject of this notice, was born the 13th of July, 1730, in Swit-
zerland, lie was the son of Jacob Bucher, Sheriff of Neuu-
kirch. He was educated at the best schools in his native coun-
try. From all that is known of him, he pursued, with equal
ardor, the various branches of study, gaining the highest honors
in the schools which he attended. He was remarkable for
having acquired a rich flow of language, and unprecedented
copiousness and energy of thought, which rendered him usei'ul,
and attracted the attention of all who heard him.

At the age of twenty-five, he left SchafFhausen, in Switzer-
land ; embarked, as is most probable, under the care of the
English government, for America, seeking a place for future
usefulness in life : he came to Pennsylvania, in 1755, and took
up his abode at, or near Carlisle, Cumberland county, which
was then a frontier settlement — where Fort Louther had jtist
shortly before been erected.

Willing to wield carnal weapons of defence, in repelling the
incursions of the savage Indians, who were instigated by the
French to slaughter, indiscriminately, regarding neither age nor
sex, Mr. Bucher was induced to accept the appointment as
Lieutenant, of a company in the battalion of the Pennsylvania
regiment of foot, as appears from a parchment commission —
preserved in the Bucher family — signed by James Hamilton,
Esq., Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-chief of the pro-
vince of Pennsylvania, and counties of Newcastle, Kent and
Sussex, on Delaware. The commission is endorsed by Richard
Peters, Secretary, dated 19th April, 1760: —

To Conrad Bucher, Gentieman, Greeting, 4'c., appointing hint
Lieutenant, fyc.

From documentary evidence, it further appears, he had been
o9

458

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIESo

in military service prior to his appointment to a Lieutenantcy.
Previous to this appointment, he had married Mary M. Hoke,
of York, whose parents had been among the first settlers of
that place. They were married February 26, 1760.

He remained at Carlisle till 1762, when, as appears from the
subjoined certificate, he was called to another station, or to
itinerate as an officer at the command of his superiors.

" This is to show that the bearer hereof, Mary Bucher, has,
for some years past lived in this congregation, and has behaved
herself in a sober and decent manner, so far as it is to me known,
and is now, at this time of her departure, here free from any
church censure, or any thing to me known, exposing her
thereto.

Carlisle, 4th day of November, 1762.

Geo. Duffield, v. d. m.

Owing to his merits as an officer, in the faithful discharge of
his duties, he was promoted to the captaincy of the Pennsyl-
vania regiment of foot.

His commission is dated July 31, 1764.
Tranquihty and peace having been restored about this time;
for Col. Bouquet had conquered the Indians, and compelled
them to sue for peace — Captain Bucher now exchanged the
sword of the flesh for that of the spirit. The soldier became
now a distinguished preacher of the gospel of Christ, A
German Reformed congregation was organized at Carlisle
about the year 1755, and it is probable he was the first Ger-
man Reformed minister. It was about this time that he entered
fully into the ministry. He became a preacher of singular
power, and knew no other joy than to devote the energies of a
vigorous constitution to the glory of his heavenly Father.

A vacancy presented itself at Lebanon, and having received
a call from that congregation, he located at that place in 1768,
and devoted all his time to the people of his charge, except
what he spent in visiting destitute congregations, and discharg-
ino- the duties of Chaplain in the Army in the commencement
of the revolution, for some time.

He was one of the most devoted ministers of the gospel of
his day — truly apostoUc in his labors. He was a shining light,
consuming itself, as it illuminated others by its splendor. In
the language of Knapp — Er erlaubte sich keinen leeren Zwis-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 459

chenraum zwischen den verschiedenen Arten von Geschaefte^i
die er zu verrichten hatte. An extract from his Pocket Alma-
nac for 1768, shows that he was instant in season and out of
season.

January, 1768. On the 1st, 2d, 4th and 5th, he preached
at Carlisle — 8th at Quitopahilla — 9th at Lebanon — 10th, the
Lord's supper at Lebanon — 11th at Heidelberg — 12th at Weis
Eichenland— 17th at Carlisle— 24th at Falling Springs— 29th
at Jonestown and Klopf 's — 30th at Camberlin's — 31st at Le-
banon, Quitopahilla, and at Carlisle.

In February, besides the places above mentioned, he preached
at Rapho, Hummelstown, Middletown, Blaser's, Maytown,
Sheafferstown.

In April, in Carlisle — at Doctor Schnebley's, Hagerstown,
14th — held catechising on the 16th, the 17th at Falling Springs,

In May the 8th, at Carlisle — 12th at Falling Springs — 15th
Lord's Supper — 21 and 22 at Quitopahilla and Lebanon — the
31st had nuptials at Lisburn.

In July he is again at Carhsle, Falling Springs, Conoco-
cheague, and Hagerstown.

In August, at the same places.

In September, at Reading, &c.

In October, 20th, at Carlisle — the 4th at Falling Springs —
othat Schnebley's — 6th at Hagerstown — 7th at Peter Spangs —
8th at Sharpsburgh — 9th at Fredericktow-n — 16th at Hum-
melstown and Middletown; and almost every day then at some
of his usual places.

November 6th at Bedford— 13th at Redstone — 20th at Red-
stone.

December — the whole month — at Carlisle.

In another Almanac, for 1771, he notices a number of night
meetings he held. These were, no doubt, social prayer meet-
ings.

He was unwearied in his Master's cause — faithfully discharg-
ing his pastoral duties, until in the Providence of God, he was
called hence. He departed this life on the 15th of August,
1780. In the morning of that day, he had gone from Lebanon
to Millerstown, a distance of five miles, to perform a marriage,
and whilst among the nuptial party, he died suddenly.

As a testimonial of respect, high regard, and affection of the
people for him, they carried his corpse on a sheet or bier, oa.

460 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

their hands to Lebanon, where his earthly remains rest in the
German Reformed grave yard — of which congregation he was
pastor for twelve years.

He lived in the religion he professed ; and wherever he was
known, he was highly and universally esteemed. He died in
the meridian of a life of usefulness; but in the triumph of his
holy faith.

mSTOHY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUKTIibS. 461

THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

The protestants of every denomination, says Gordon, held
the Roman CathoUc communion in abhorrence; and the penal
Jaws of England forbade the public exercise of that religion.*

Even the liberal minded Wilham Penn \vas so much preju-
diced against them, that it was with mucli reluctance he re-
ceived any Roman Catholics into his province. They w-erc
considered enemies of the country, and often charged as French
emissaries to spy out the condition of English subjects; that for
the public safety, some were imprisoned.

As early as 1G89, Governor Blackwell, Deputy Governor
of Pennsylvania, convened a Council and laid before the mem-
bers thereof so7m rximors.\ He says: — "That ye reason of
his calhnc: them to2:ether at this time wras to minde thera thai
there had been formerly severall Rumors of danger from ye
french & Indians, in conjunction with ye Papists, for ye Ruine
of the Protestants in these parts, and of ye alarme formerl)-
given, as if 9 thousand french & Indians w^ere then neare ap-
proaching for yt purpose, upon wch ye Justices & Sheriff's of
ye two Lower Countyes, with ye people thereof, had betaken
themselves to armes for their defence; whereof he then gave,
ye Councill an account, from ye Letters he reed out of ye' sil
Countyes: as also of a Letter he had reed from one Capt Lc
Tort, (a frenchman, living up in the Countrey,) agreeing there-
with ; which they did not see any reason to give heed unto : —
And further, to acquaint them yt he had lately reed a letter
from Mr. Joshua Barkstead, out of Maryland, advertising there
was sufficient proof that ye Papists in Maryland had been tarn-
jeering with ye french and Northern Indians, to assist them to
cutt off ye Protestants, or at least to reduce them to ye See of
Rome, &c."

» Gordon's Pa., 570.

t Min. Prov. Council, i., p. 35T.

39*

462 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

It afterwards appeared, that the danger apprehended was
not great from the "Indians and papists." It was only to
"skare the women and children."

Previous to 1730, not many Catholics resided in Pennsyha
nia. The few that had been in the province prior to 1720, were
occasionally visited by missionaries from Maryland. So novel
in this province, was the mass, that when it was first celebra-
ted in St. Joseph^s at Philadelphia, in 1733, it caused much
agitation in the Provincial council, and Governor Gordon pro-
posed to suppress it, as contrary to a statute of law 11 &, 12,
William III. The Catholics claimed protection under the pro-
vincial charter, and the council referring the subject to their
superior at home, the Governor wisely resolved to suffer them
to worship in Peace.*

Numerous German Catholics emigrated to this province, the
principal part of them settled at Goshenhoppen and in the low-
er parts of Berks county. As early as 1755, they had a " very
magnificent chapel at Goshenhoppen;" and shortly, on the de-
feat of General Braddock by the French Catholics, they held
"a large procession," which produced considerable excitement
among the protestant population. They also had a priest at
Reading, as early as 1755.

Their number, no doubt, would have been much greater
prior to 1776, had it not been for the oath of abjuration they
were compelled to take and subscribe to gain admittance. This
oath, it is believed, was unfavorable to the increase of the
Catholic church here — none would subscribe that oath, and
still adhere to the church. An extract from it will best show
the nature of it. The following is from a paper, subscribed by
James Read, March 17, 1745.

" I, James Read, do swear that I do from my heart abhor,
detest and abjure as impious and heretical, (bat damnable doc-
trine and position, that princes excommXinicated or deprived by
the Pope or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed
or murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever.

"I, James Read, do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of
God, profess, testify and declare, that I do believe that, in the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, there is not any trans-substan-

* Gordon's Pa., 571.

f See p. 151 and 15«. Provincial Records, Book N., 125.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 46'J

tiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ, at or before the consecration thereof by any
person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the
Virgin Mary or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass,
as they are used in the church of Rome, are superstitious and
idolatrous. And I do solemnly, in the presence of God, pro-
fess, testify and declare, that I do make this declaration and
every part thereot in the plain and ordinary sense of the words
now read to me as they are commonly understood by Eng-
lish Protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental
reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensation already
granted me for this purpose by the Pope, or any person what-
soever, or without any hope of such dispensation, from any
person or authority whatsoever, or without thinking that I am
or may be acquitted before God or man, or any other person
or persons or power whatsoever should dispense with or annul
the same, and declare that it was null and void from the be-
binning."

The Catholics have three chapels in Berks and one in Leba-
non county. The present one in Reading was erected in 1791.
The Revd. Steinbacher is officiating priest. He is a man highly
esteemed by those among whom he ministers.

THE EPISCOPALIANS.

At an early period, in the province of Pennsylvania, the
Episcopalians became numerous, and were increased by those
who seceded from the Quakers under George Keith, in the year
1691.

George Keith had been an eminent preacher and writer
among the Quakers for many years, and had published several
well written treatises in defence of their religious principles ;
but afterwards seceded, and joined the Episcopal clergy in
England, and served them for some time, as a vicar, ordained
by the Bishop of London; he afterwards returned to America,
when, as a clergyman, in orders, he ofnciated in this newfunc-

464 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

tion. He drew many of the Quakers after him, and most cf
them joined the Episcopal church.

As early as 1710, Christ Church in Philadelphia was found-
ed, and in 1717, the Rev. Mr. Wayman, missionary to the
Welsh settlements of Radner and Oxford, frequently visited
Pequea, Conestoga and Indian settlements, within the bonds of
Lancaster county. He baptised many children of Quakers, and
some who had been Quakers.

Episcopal churches were erected in several parts of the pro-
vince prior to 1745 ; but neither their pastors nor their con-
oregations were distinguished by zeal in making converts, and
their churches were chiefly sustained by the accessions of mem-
bers from England, and the progress of natural increase.

We cannot say with any definitiveness when the first Epis-
copal congregation was organized in Berks and Lebanon coun-
ties. It is probable that immediately before, or shortly after"
the'revolution, a church v/as organized at Molatton.

The congregation at Reading vras organized within the last
thirty years. The present church was erected in 1826. For
the want of furnished statistics, so kindly promised us, neither
the number of churches, nor ministers in the counties of Berks
and Lebanon, can be stated — probably tM^o or three of each.
The Rev. R. U. Morgan officiates at present at Reading.

THE PRESBYTERIANS.

Previous to 1688 but few Presbyterians had become residents
of the British provinces in America. The Rev. Jedediah An-
drews, from New England, settled in Philadelphia, about the
year 1701. He was the first Presbyterian minister in Penn-
sylvania. In 1706, a primary ecclesiastical union of the Ame-
rican Presbyterians was formed. It was the Presbytery of
Philadelphia, and consisted of seven ministers — Samuel Davis,
John Hampton, Francis McKemie, (the first Presbyterian mi-
nister on the continent,) and George McNish, all of Ireland,
and residing in Maryland. Nathaniel Taylor settled at Upper

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

465

Marl'oorough, and John Wilson officiating at Newcastle, both
irom Scotland, and Jedediah Andrews, of Philadelphia. To
wdiom was added John Boyd, stationed at Freehold, the first
candidate who was ordained by that presbytery, on October
29, 1706. From that time onward, they increased in numbers,
respectability and influence. At present there is scarce a county
in Pennsylvania where Presbyterian churches ai'e not to be
found. For many years they labored principally, if not wholly,
among the Scotch,*Irish and English; but within the last twen-
ty-five years, they have succeeded to organized congregations
in German communities, where their congregations are com-
posed of English and Germans.

About the year 1736, 37. The Rev. John Elder, a Scotch-
man, settled west of the Conewago hills, towards the Susque-
hannah, and preached for fifty-six years. His labors extended
into the settlements of the western part of Lebanon county.

It is very probable, that in 174-), when the Ilev. David
Brainerd visited the Indians on the Susquehanna, he may have
visited the Rev. Elder, and his congregation.

Nearly twenty years ago, the Rev'ds Finney, Patterson,
and others visited Berks county, whose efforts eventuated in
the organization of a congregation in the Borough of Reading.
In 1824, the present church in Reading, was erected— the
congregation is in a prosperous condition. The Rev. William
Sterling is the present pastor.

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This denomination took its rise in England about one hun-
dred years ago; and in the year 1766 the first Methodist So-
ciety was established in the city of New York. Their first
preacher was Mr. Philip Embury, who was subsequently as-
sisted by a Mr. Webb. He occasionally visited Philadelphia,
preaching the gospel of Christ. From that time onward, this
Society increased in numbers, respectability and usefulness, so
that there is scarce a township, within the wide range of the

466 HISTORY OP BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

inhabited parts of United States, where their influence is not
teen — every where are men found of this denomination.

At what time minister were sent forth in this region of coun-
try, to itinerate and proclaim the glad tidings of the gospel, we
cannot state with any degree of certainty, but it is probable, it
was between the years 1780 and 1790; for as early as 1781,
the Lancaster circuit, which embraced part of what is now Le-
banon county, was formed.

The present church at Reading was erected in 1839, under
the pastoral care of the Revd. Mr. Roach, then stationed here.
The present pastor is the Revd. Mr. Koons.

They have also a church at Lebanon, and about one hun-
dred members. 'J he Revd. Greenbank has charge of this and
several other congregations in this county. They have, pro-
bably, somie six or eight houses of public worship in Berks and
Lebanon county. They are on the increase.

THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST.

This denomination is, comparatively, of recent origin. Its
first regular systematic organization was in 1789, Vvhen a con-
ference, for that purpose, was held in the city of Baltimore,
attended by the following preachers — Revds. Vv^illiam Ottcr-
bein, Martin Eoehm, George A. Geeting, Christian Newcom-
er, Adam Lohman, John Ernst and Henry Weidner. For some
years they were without a discipline. Shortly after the death
of one of the most influential ministers who had met with them
in 1789, a discipline containing the doctrines and rules for the
government of the church, was presented at a conference held
in 1815, at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. It v;as adopted.

Having adopted the itinerant system of sending out minis-
ters, and nearly all of them preaching German, they made con-
siderable progress among the Germans in these two counties.
They have a number of meeting houses, and some four or five
ministers here. Of these are the Revds. John Lichty and Cas-
])er Lichty.

HSSTTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 4f>7

THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION.

This denomination is sometimes called after its founder, Ja-
cob Albrecht, "Albrecht's Leute." This sect was started
about the year 1800, by the E,ev. Jacob Albright, whose asso-
ciates were the Reverends John Walker, George Miller, and
others. Mr. Albright, not unUke the Methodists, commenced
travelling and preaching the gospel, and soon made converts
among the Germans, in various parts of Pennsylvania.

At present this denomination has some six or eight meeting
places, besides some churches in Berks and Lebanon counties-
The Revds. Danner and Sailor are ministers amons: them.

THE UNIVERSALISTS.

As a denomination, Universalists began their organization in
England, about 1750, under the preaching of the Rev. John
Kelly, who gathered the first church of believers in that senti-
ment, in the city of London.

The introduction into America, was by a Mr. John Murray,
who had been converted from Methodism by the preaching of
Mr. Kelly. Mr. Murray emigrated into this country in 1770,
and soon after preached his peculiar viev/s in various places in
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island and
Massachusetts, and thus became the founder of the denomina-
tion.

Dr. George De Benneville, of Germantown, Pa., a learned
and pious man, was a believer, and probably j says the Revd.
A. B. Grosh, published the edition of SiegvoWs Everlasting
Gospel, a universalist work, which appeared in 1763. Since
that time, and Murray's preaching occasionally in Pennsylva-
nia, the doctrine has spread generally through the United
States.

The first society organized in Pa., was in 1787; the first
meeting house built in 1808; first association held in 1829;
convention in 1832. In Pennsylvania they have seventeen
raeeting houses and twenty-four preachers.

468 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Universalist churches are not numerous in these two coun-
ties; there is but one in Berks. The Universalist church in
Reading was built in 1830. Their former pastor was the Rev.
John Parry. At present there is no stated pastor laboring
here. We have not had the means to ascertain what number
is actually connected with this church, in these counties, but
it is reported, there are many w'ho avow universalist sentiments.
These are their sentiments, briefly stated :

I. "We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments, contain a revelation of the character of God,
and of the duty, interest and final destination of mankind.

II. "We believe that there is one God, whose nature is love:
revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of grace,
who will finally restore the whole world of mankind to holi-
ness and happiness.

III. "We believe that holiness and true happiness are inse-
parably connected; and that believers ought to be careful to
maintain order and practice good works; lor these things are
good and profitable unto man."

CHURCH OF GOD.

This denomlnallon was formally organized in October, 1830,
at Harrisburg. A meeting was held, of which tlie Rev. John
Winebrenner was speaker, and the Rev. John Elliot, clerk,
of Lancaster. Since that time they have increased till they
number about fifty licensed preachers and six thousand church
members in Pennsylvania — a few of whom are found in Leba-
non county — principally m and about Millerstown.

THE BAPTISTS.

This denomination has made, within the last ten or fifteen
years, efforts to organize congregations in Berks county. The}

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 469

have succeeded to build several churches. Their first meeting
house was in Reading, near the Schuylkill river ; but as the lo-
cation was considered rather unfavorable, they abandoned that,
and erected another, in Chestnut street, in 1837. At that
time tne Reverend E. M. Parker was pastor. Their pastors
have been the Rev'ds Parker, Philips, and Davidson — at pre-
sent they are building a church in the eastern part of Berks
county. Their number is steadily increasing.

AFRICAN CHURCHES.

Of these there are three in the Borough of Reading : — The
Union African church, the Presbyterian African church, and
the Methodist African church. In the African churches, says
Stable, there are regular meetings on the Sabbath, accompa-
nied with the usual religious exercises, and a pretty strict course
of church discipline; with what results, may be partly gathered
from the general good character, and industrious, steady habits
of our colored population.

40

CHAPTER VIII.

HISTORY OF THE PRESS

Four years after William Penn's first arrival in America,
William Bradford, from Leicester, England, commenced print-
ing, at Kensington, near Philadelphia. This was in 1686. Mr.
Bradford removed from Piiiladelphia to New York in 1693.

The first newspaper published in Pennsylvania, was com-
menced by Andrew Bradford, in 1719, entitled "The American
Weekly Mercury." Nine years afterwards, another paper was
Started by Mr. Keimer; the paper was called " The Universal
Instructor in all arts and sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette."
This paper afterwards fell into the hands of Benjamin Franklin.

In 1739 Christian Sower commenced the pubhcation of a
paper, once a quarter. After some time it was printed month-
ly; but after 1744, it was printed every week, under the title
of " the Germantown Gazette," by C. Sower, jr.

It is worthy of remark that C. Sower, sen., cast his own
type, and made his own ink. Sower published first in the
United States, a quarto bible, in German.

The first newspaper pubhshed in Reading, called the " Neue
Unpartheyische Zeitung," was issued February 18th, 1789, by
Messrs. Johnston, Barton and Yungman, The "Adler" was
first issued by Jacob Snyder & Co., the 17th of January,
1797, and is still published, though much enlarged, by the Hon.
John Ritter and Charles Kessler, Esq. This paper has an
extensive circulation in Berks, and some of the adjacent coun-

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 471

ties. It is the political expositor of the Democratic party of
Berks county.

" The Berks and Schuylkill" is the oldest English newspa-
per printed in Reading ; the first number appeared June 17,
1816, and is now owned and published by John S. Richards,
Esq. It is the organ of the Whigs.

" The Democratic Press," owned and conducted by Samuel
Myers, Esq., and "The Jefferson Democrat," by Joel Ritter,
Esq., are both devoted to the cause of Democracy.

"The Reading Grazette," hitherto neutral, is owned by the
Messrs. Getz and Boyer.

" The LiberaJe Beobachter," by A. Puwelle, Esq., and "Alt
Berks," by William Schoener, Esq., are both German papers.

" The Hamburger Schneljpost und allgemeiner deutscher
Anzeiger," published at Harrisburg, by Mahlon A. Sellers, Esq.

The oldest paper in the town of Lebanon, is " Der Wahre
Deraokrat und Volks-Advokat," by Joseph Hartman, Esq. This
paper has reached its 29th Jahrgang.

" The Libanon Demokrat" is published by J. P. Sanderson,
Esq.

" The Lebanon Courier," by George Frysinger, Esq.

There is also a small German sheet published at Myerstown,

SOCIETIES, CHARITABLE AND LITERARY — LIBRARIES.*

"It has been justly observed, that Reading is distinguished
lor the number of its societies, and the facility with which a
society, for any purpose, may be started. An incredible num-
ber of associations have at one time or another had an existence,
some of Avhich were of an absurd or ludicrous character. A
large portion of them, however, were as readily abandoned as
they were inconsiderately formed ; insomuch that now, when a
new association is announced, it is scarcely expected to sustain
more than an ephemeral existence. This, however, is not the
case with all ; a part of those that were valuable, have survived

* Taken from the Stahle's description of Reading, in 184J,

472 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

for a number of years; and a few perhaps that are not of much
value.

"In enumerating the societies of Reading, I shall follow the
excellent classification of a writer in the ierks and Schuylkill
Journal whom I have had already had occasion to quote: —
"In Reading," he says, "we have now, or have had, the Ma-
sonic Fraternity and the Dorcas Society. The Red Men and
the Soup Society. The Native Men and the Female Coterie.
The Odd Fellows and the Sewing Society. The Masonic
Fraternity and the Maternal Association. The Concert Club
and the Tea Party jollifications. The Garrick Association and
the Thespian Board. The Benevolent Society and the Free
Trades' Union. The Frankhn, Cordwainers, and Berks coun-
ty Beneficial Societies. The Cabinet, Youth's Institute, Junior
Association, Apprentices' Company, Mechanics' Institute, Me-
chanics' and Workingmen's Society, William Penn Institute,
besides Bible, Education, Missionary, Sabbath School, Tract,
Temperance, Colonization, Debating and other Societies.

"A lar^e number of the above societies are long- since de-
funct; and many more ;ire in a very sickly condition. A few
of them deserve a more particular notice."

" Masonic Fraternity. — The following account of this insti-
tution in Reading, was politely furnished by a gentleman who
stands high in the Order. " The Masonic Order was established
in Reading as early as 1794, under a warrant from the Right
Worshipful Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. The late William
Bell, Esq., had the honor of being its first presiding officer. —
Lodge No. 62, has ever embraced in its members some of the
most respectable persons of Reading, and the county of Berks.
There are now eighty-eight active members of the Lodge, besides
a number of honorary members. — Chapter No. 152, holds its
warrant from the Right Worshipful Grand Holy Royal Arch
Chapter of Pennsylvania. This body is also in a very flour-
ishing condition. The members of the Order contemplate erect-
ing a Masonic Temple for their greater convenience, and the
ornament of the Borough.'"

" The Garrick Association of Reading. — This Dramatic
Association was formed several years ago, and has been contin-
ued in operation with a good share of prosperity to the present
time. They have a hall in the old academy building, neatly

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 473

fitted up and furnished for their performances. The society
numbers about twenty members — all young men of the borough
of Reading, pf very respectable families, ajid gopd standing in
society."

" The Cabinet. — This association was foriped ab;Out three;
years ago. Its design was to promote research and diffuse
information upon scientific subjects, through the medium of lec-
tures by the members. A small, bi^t; well chosen, chemical and
other apparatus, and a collection of minerals were obtained :
and the exertions of the associalion have been attended with
interest and profit, to the members and others. Lectures are
delivered regularly every Thursday evening during the fall and
winter, and meetings for the transaction of business are held
once a month during the remainder of the year. Several mem-
bers have occasionally assisted in lecturing, but this duty has
fallen principally upon Dr. J. P. Hiester, whose lectures and
experiments upon chemistry have proved peculiarly interestino-
to the young, to whose interest and apprehension he has the
happy faculty of explaining the most abtruse parts of the
science."

" William Peym Institute. — This association has been in ex-
istence several years, under the name of the Jtimor .Associa-
tion. A short time since, the plan and constitution of the so-
ciety were somewhat altered, and the present title adopted. It
is composed principally of clerks in our stores, and } oung me-.
chanics, and embraces a large number of young men, who are
anxious for their own and each other's intellectual improve-
ment. The debates of this society are held weekly in a con-
venient room, which they have elegantly furnished for their
use, and which also serves them as a reading room. They
have the present season got up a course of popular lectures, de-
livered by eminent men of this and other places, the avails of
which are to be appropriated to increasing the library of the
Institution."

"Mechanics' Institute. — This Society was formed between
one and two years ago, and is composed chiefly of mechanics
and apprentices. Feeling the importance of mental cultivation
to them as men and members of society, and acknowledginp-

40* ^'

474 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

their deficiencies in this respect, they associated themselves
with the view of promoting their mutual improvement. They
are organized under an appropriate constitution and bye-laws,
to which strict obedience is rendered. Debates, Lectures, Es-
says and Recitations are among their weekly exercises, and are
conducted with a zeal and good feeling honorable to the mem-
bers, and ensuring a high degree of success in the object for
which they are associated. The formation of a library is em-
braced in the plan of this society."

" Libraty Companies. — There are three libraries in Reading,
one German and two English.

The German Library contains a large number of well select-
ed works, but is not at the present time open to the use of the
public. It is said that the Company is indebted to two or
three individuals, who have adopted the course of sequestering
the library for the security of their money. How long this
valuable collection of books will be suffered to remain in its
present precarious condition, or what disposition will finally be
made of it, it is difficult to conjecture."

"The Reading Library, is a large collection, containing
many valuable and standard works. There are, however, en-
tirely too many novels; and a large portion of the other works
are rather ancient. These, however, are valuable, and if some
of the trashy novels and romances were cleared from the shelves,
and their places supplied with judiciously chosen modern works,
this would become a most excellent library."

^^ Franklin Library. — This library was formed to supply a
want that had been for many years seriously felt in Reading,
of some collection of useful books, which, by the low terms of
access, might be placed within the reach of all, especially of
the young who have a desire to read. The expense of mem-
bership is only fifty cents a year, which admits the individual
to the use of a choice selection of about two hundred volumes
— all useful and instructive works. This trifling sum may be
easily afforded by every person, and serves, through mere force
of the idea of possessing a share, to give the members a greater
interest in the library, and make them more likely to improve
its benefits, than if admission were gratuitous ; and at the same

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 475

time, being carefully applied to the purchaseof newbooks, it is
sufficient to procure, in the course of a few years, an extensive
and most valuable library. This institution has been in opera-
tion a little more than a year, and from the number of members
and the extent to which the books are read, it seems to be well
answering the purpose for which it was designed."

"Besides the above, there is a Circulating Library, kept by
Mr. Harper. There are a good many excellent books in this
collection, but a much larger share of novels and other light
reading; and, unfortunately, this is the portion most read."

CHAPTER IX.

MISCELLANEOUS

MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR.

Both counties have their Poor-Houses. An act was passed
in 1824 for the maintenance of the poor of Berks county. The
house is on a farm called "Angelica," formerly the property
and residence of Governor Thomas Mifflin, of four hundred and
eighty acres of superior land, three miles south-west of Read-
ing. " The building was erected during 1824-5, the dimen-
sions of which are as follows : The central building is 105 feet
by 40, with a wing at each end by 42 and 27 feet ; the w^hole
building is two stories high.

" The first pauper was admitted on the 21st Oct. 1825, and
on January 1st, 1826, the house contained one hundred and
thirty inmates. Abram. Knabb was the first steward — served
eight years. Henry Boyer was next appointed — served five
years. Marshall B. Campbell served one year ; and Daniel
KaufFman, the present able steward, was appointed in 1839,
The first Board of Directors elected, consisted of John Beiter-
man, one year; Daniel K. Hotterstein for two years, and Daniel

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 477

Bright for three years. The present Directors are Jacob
W. Seitzinger, Abraham Kerper, and Daniel Baum.

" In 1837 an Hospital was put up 62 by 40 feet, two stories
high. In 1843 another building was erected for the accommo-
tion of the insane, 80 by 50 feet, two stories high. This build-
ing occupies the place or spot formerly taken up by the ok!
Mansion, in which Gov. Mifflin, at one time, lived.

" Drs. Isaac Hiester and John B. Otto were appointed con-
sulting Physicians. The present Consulting Board, are Drs.
John B. Otto and William Gries. In 1625, Oct. 17, Doctors
Banson and C. Baum, were appointed attending Physicians.
The present ones are Drs. C. H. Plunter and P. F. Nagle.
The number of inmates is 150 — the number varies through the
year from 150 to ISO — the sick average about 25 through the
year."

THE LEBANON POOR-HOUSE.

A farm was purchased pursuant to an act of the Legislature,
passed the 16th of April, 1830, it contains one hundred and
seventy acres of excellent limestone land, about a mile and a
half east of the borough of Lebanon, on the south side of the
Reading turnpike, and on the head of the Quitopahilla. There
are tine buildings on the farm. The Poor-house is 114 feet
long by 40 wide ; there is, also, besides other suitable bu Idings,
a large two-story one. The affairs are well managed.

THE COURTS OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

1. The Court of Common Pleas. — It is composed of a Pres-
ident and two Associate Judges. The Court can be held by the
President alone, or by the two Associates.

2. The Orphans' Cowt. — It is held by any two of the judges
of the Court of Common Pleas. Its jurisdiction extends to the
appointment of guardians; the accounts of executors, adminis-
trators and guardians; the sale of decedents, real estate, &c.

3.. The Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail De-

478 niSTony of berks and Lebanon counties.

livery. — It is composed of the JiyJges of the Court of Common
Pleas; or of two of them, the President being one of the two.

It has exclusive jurisdiction of cases of homicide, treason,
sodomy, buggery, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, mayhem, con-
ceaUng the death of an illegitimate child, in such a manner as
to prevent its being known whether the child was born dead
or alive; also of certain second, or any subsequent offences:
and it has concurrent jurisdiction with the Quarter Sessions
of all other offences.

4. The CoiD'f of Quarter Sessions of the Peace. — It is
composed o$ any two of the Judges of the Court of Common
Pleas. Its jurisdiction to all cases in the county, except those
in which the court of Oyer and Terminer has exclusive juiis-
diction.

The Registers Court. — It is composed of the Register and
any two of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas; and is
convened in a case of a dispute on a will, or the right to ad-
minister.

The Judges at the present time for Berks county are, — the
Honorable John Banks, President ; Matthias S. Richards, and
John Stoufler, Esqs., Associates.

The Judges for Lebanon are, — the Honorable Nathaniel B.
Eldred, President ; John Shindel and Samuel Goshert, Esqs.,
Associates.

The Court, and other officers for the county of Berks are, —
Daniel Young, Prothonatory ; John Green, Register; Henry
Maurer, Recorder; Wiiham Scheuer, Clerk of the Orphans'
Court; John L. Rightmyer, Clerk of Quarter Sessions, Oyer
and Terminer; Henry Nagle, Treasurer; William Arnold,
Adam Leise, John Shooraan, County Commissioners; Joseph
Hitter, Clerk to the County Commissioners.

MEMBERS OV THE BERKS COUNTY BAR.

John Biddle, Charles Evans, John S. Hiester, William Dar-
ling, Charles Davis, Henry W. Smith, Edward P. Pearson,
William C. Leavensworth, Elijah Deckert, David F. Gordon.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

470

Peter Filbert, James L. Dunn, Jacob Hoffman, Robert M.
Barr, Joseph H. Spayd, Henry Rhoads, George M. Keim,
William Strong, George G. Barclay, John Pringle Jones, John
S. Richards, Dennis W. O'Brien, A. N. Sallade, George E.
Ludwig, A. F. Miller, James Donegan, William Bets, Augus-
tus F. Boas, Jeremiah Bitting, Samuel Sohl, Jeremiah Hage-
man, George W. Arms, John K. Longnecker, Charles Wire-
manj Henry Van Read, William M. Baird ; Mathias Minge!,
H. A. Muhlenberg, jr., Isaac Keim, Robert Fraser.*

LIST OF THE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE OF BERKS
COUNTY.!

Albany township.

Alsace.

Amity.

Bern.

(C

Bern Upper.

(C

Bethel.

((

Brecknock.

(C

Centre.

Csernarvon.

Colebrookdale.

George Reagan 24 April, 1840.

John Miller 1 May, 1840.

John W. Burkhart 25 April, 1840.

Daniel Spengler 30 April, 1842,

Charles Parks 23 April, 1840.

Solomon L. Custerd 1 May, 1840.

Jacob Kline 6 May, 1843.

Geres Hain 7 May, 1844.

Henry Webber 11 May, 1840.

Wm. Sherrer 4 May, 1843.

Jacob Walborn 24 April, 1840.

Charles S. Cummens 27 April, 1840.

Jacob M. Becker 27 April, 1840.

John M. Dewees 2 May, 1840.

Jacob Miesse 27 April, 1840.

George K. Haag 1 May, 1840.

David Finger 27 April, 1840.

James E. Wells 30 April, 1840.

Israel R. Laucks 27 April, 1840.

* As the names of the members of the Lebanon county Bar, have not
beenjfurnished as yet, they will be given in the list of subscribers in the
Borough of Lebanon — to which the reader is referred.

f This list was kindly furnished by Chas. Kessler, Esq., Ed. of the
«■' Adler."

4S0

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Cumru township.

Charles H. Addams

District.

Joseph Kemp

Douglas.

Henry Feery

a

Jacob Levengood

Exeter.

John Guldin

((

Jacob Gile

Earl.

Daniel Clouser

a

Abraham Hill

Greenwich.

Peter Kline

((

John Wagenhorst

Hamburg Borough.

Israel Derr

Heidelberg Lower.

Thos H. Jones

a

David W. Eirich,

Heidelbei'g Upper.

Jonathan L. Reber,

i(

George Schoch

Hereford.

Adam Mensch

((

George K. Rohrbach

Kutztown Borough.

Jacob Graetr

((

Charles Weirman

Long-swamp.

Jonathan Haas

iC

William Trexler

Maiden-creek.

Jacob Forney jr.

a

John E. Addams

Maxatawny.

John Kemp

iC

David K. Hottenstine

Gley.

William Stapleton

i'i

Henry H. Mowrer

Pike.

Samuel Lobach

cc

Daniel Cleaver

Penn.

Daniel Billman

Reading, North ward William Schoener

a

William Betz

Reading, South ward David Medary

Richmond.

William Lesher

((

Reuben Shall

Robeson.

Evan Evans

ei

Abraham Eargood

Rockland.

Wm. Brentzighoff

((

Lewis F. Kaufman

Ruscombmanor.

Daniel Buskirk

((

Solomon Hollenbush

14 April, 1840.

14 April, 1840-
20 April, 1840.
25 April, 1840.

27 April, 1840.
11 May, 1841.
25 April, 1840.

7 May, 1841.

28 April, 1840.
28 April, 1840.

27 April, 1840.
16 April, 1840.
25 April, 1840.

24 May, 1843.
19 June, 1843.

15 April, 1840.
6 May, 1840.

28 April, 1840.

16 April, 1844.

5 May, 1840.

25 May, 1843.
24 April, 1840.

8 July, 1843.
4 May, 1843.

15 April, 1844.

16 April, 1840.
16 April, 1840.

14 April, 1840.
27 April, 1840.

8 July, 1842.
30 April, 1840.
10 April, 1841.

15 April, 1844.
27 July, 1840.
10 May, 1843.
80 April, 1840.
30 April, 1844.
30 April, 1840.

6 May, 1840.
10 July, 1841.
13 July, 1841.

BISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

481

Tulpehocken twp.
((

Tulpehocken Upper.

a

Union.

a

Windsor.
Washington.
Womelsdorf Borough.

Frederick Muth, jr.
Adam Schoener
John Potteiger
John Riegel
Jacob Rahn
Caleb Harrison
Samuel Hoffman
James Anderson
Frederick Sigmund
Daniel S. Schultz
John Vanderslice
Emanuel H. Hackman

80 May, 1840.
15 Aug. 1840.

14 April, 1840.
30 May, 1840.

1 May, 1830.

27 June, 1840.

1 May, 1840.

15 May, 1840.
22 April, 1840.
29 April, 1842.
13 April, 1840.
13 May, 1844.

LIST OF SENATORS AND TIME OF ELECTION OF BERKS.

From 1790 to 1808, Berks and Dauphin counties constituted
one senatorial district.

1790, Joseph Hiester and John Gloninger. Gloninger de-
cUned Dec. 4, 1792, and John A. Hanna, was elected and took
his seat, Dec. 5, 1792.

1794, John Kean and Gabriel Hiester.

1796, Christian Lower.

1798, John Kean.

1800, Christian Lower.

].801, Henry Orth, in room of John Kean, \Vho resigned.

1802, John Kean.

1804, Gabriel Heister.

1806, Melchior Rahn.

1808, Berks alone a district — after 1812, Berks and Schuyl-
kill counties one district.

1808, Gabriel Hiester and John S. Hiester.

1812, Peter Fraily and Charles Shoemaker, jr.

1816, Peter Fraily and Marks John Biddle.

1820, Conrad Fager and James B. Hubley^^.

1824, George Schall and William Audenried. \

1828, David A. Bertolet and Jacob Krebs.

1832, Paul Geiger and Jacob El^rebs.
41

483 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

1836, John Miller.
1840, Samuel Fegely.
1843, Samuel Fegely.

REPRESENTATIVES FROM BERKS COUNTY.

The time when members were elected is given. Sessions
were usually fall and M'inter sessions. Elections, with few ex-
ceptions, for Representatives, were always held in October.

For 1752, Moses Starr; 1753, Moses Starr; 1754, Moses
Starr; 1755, Francis Parvin; 1756, John Potts — June 27, re-
turned in the room of Francis Parvin ; 1756, Thomas Yorke ;
1757, Thomas Yorke; 1758, James Boone; 1759; 1760,
1761, John Potts; 1762, 1763, 1764, John Ross; 1765, 1766,
A.dam Witman; 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, Edward Biddle;
1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, Edward Biddle and Henry
Christ; 1776,1777,1778, 1779, 1780, Henry Hal ler, John
Lesher, Edward Biddle and Henry Christ.

1781, Baltzer Gehr, Gabriel Hiester, Daniel Hunter, Benja-^
min Weiser, Joseph Hiester and JohnBishop.

1782, Daniel Clymer, Christian Lower, Abraham Lincoln,
John Ludwig, John Patton and George Ege.

1783, Nicholas Lutz, Daniel Clymer, Christian Lower,
Abraham Lincoln, John Rice and John Bishop.

1784, Nicholas Lutz, Abraham Lincoln, Christian Lower,
Henry Spyker, David Davis and Martin Rhoads.

1785, Abraham Lincoln, Nicholas Lutz, Henry Spykei'.
Philip Kreemer, Dcivid Davis, Baltzer Gehr.

1786, Joseph Hiester, Philip Kreemer, Gabriel Hiester, David
Davis, Daniel Clymer.

1787, Charles Biddle, Joseph Hiester, Gabriel Hiester, David
Davis, Joseph Sands.

1788, Joseph Hiester, Gabriel Hiester, Joseph Sands, Daniel
Brodhead, John Ludwig.

1789, John Ludwig, Joseph Hiester, Joseph Sands Nicholas
Lutz, Daniel Leinbach.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 483

1790, John Ludwig, Nicholas Lutz, James Collins, Qabriel

Hiester, Daniel Clymer. ^ , ^ t u t j ;^

1791, Charles Shoemaker, Paul Groscop, John Ludwig,
Nicholas Lutz, Baltzer Gehr.

1792 The whole of the members of 1791 re-elected, and
also in i793, except John Ludwig, in whose place Christian

Lower was elected. t i. r>u • ♦ t^i,«

1794, Paul Groscop, Charles Shoemaker, John Christ, John

* ^1795, /ohrChrit'' Paul Groscop, Charles Shoemaker, Balt-
zer Gehr, Christian Lower. , n ^ i? -i w;i

1796, Paul Groscop, Charles Shoemaker Peter Frailey,Wik

ham Lewis, Baltzer Gehr.

1797, All the members of 1796, re-elected.

1798, Peter Fraily, Charles Shoemaker, Daniel Udree, Dan 1
Rose, Baltzer, Gehr. ^ , . , ^ i

1799, All re-elected except Baltzer Gehr, m whose stead
William Witman was elected.

1800, All of 1799, re-elected. .. • , r. r. m

1801, Gabriel Hiester, William Witman, Daniel Rose, Dan 1
Udree, Frederick Smith,

1802, All of 1801, re-elected. ^ , . , „. , „,.„•

1803, Jacob Roads, Isaac Adams, Gabriel Hiester, William

Witman, Daniel Rose. i ^ t. j t ^i

1804, Daniel Udree, Wilham, Witman, Jacob Roads, Jacob

Epler, Isaac Adams. . ■„ v ^ t ^k

1805, Daniel Rose, Elias Radcay, Valentine Probst, Jacob

Shaeffer, John Bishop. .

1806, all re-elected except John Bishop, in whose place Dan^

iel loder was elected. -r.^ t^ i -n i

1807, the same re-elected, except Ehas Radcay— Bernard
Kepner was elected in his stead.

1808, Jacob Snyder, David Kirby, Jacob Roads, James
M'Larland, John M. Hyneman. _.,,,., ,, „ ,,

1809, Peter Fraily, John Spayde, David Kirby, Adam Ruth,
Charles Shoemaker, jr. ^ . •, -r. r^ ^

1810, Conrad Feger, David Kirby, Darnel Rose, George

Schall, Adam Ruth. _ . , ,^ -r^ -j tz-

1811, Peter Fraily, Conrad Feger, David Rose, David Jiir-
by, Charles Shoemaker.

1812, (from 1812 to 1829, Berks and Schuylkill formed one

484 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

Election District,) John Miller, Jacob Krebs, John Addams^
Conrad Feger, Jacob Sassaman.

1813, Jacob Krebs, Conrad Feger, George Marx, John
Addams, Jonathan Hudson,

1814, John Miller, David Kirby, Jacob Dreibelbis, Daniel
Kerper. Daniel Rhoads, jr.

1815, Christian Haldeman, Jacob Epler, Daniel Rhoads,
David Hottenstein.

1816, William Shoener, Godfried Roehrer, Daniel Rhoads,
David Kirby, Michael GraefF.

1817, Joseph Good, Jacob Levan, Elisha Geiger, Jacob
Greisemer, Michael GraefF.

1818, Jacob Levan, Joseph Godd, John Neikerch, Michael
GraefF, Jacob Greisemer.

1819, John Kohler, GodFried Roehrer, Abraham Mengel,
John W. Roseberry, George Gernant.

1820, George Gernant, Samuel Jones, Joseph Good, Jacob
Rahn, Jacob Schneider.

1821, Daniel Rhoads, David Hottenstein, William Addams,
John Gehr, John Neikerk.

1822, William Addams, John Gehr, David Hottenstein, God-
fried Roehrer ,(William Audenried. j

1823, William Adams, David Hottenstein, Henry Royer,
James Everhart, (William Audenried.

1824, James Everhart, George Rahn, Jacob Gehr, Henry
Boyer, George U. Odenheimer.

1825, ames Everhart, Henry Boyer, Daniel A. Bertolet,
Michael GraefF.

1S26, Henry Boyer, Daniel A. Bertolet, David Hottenstein,
Philip A. Good, George Rahn.

1827, Daniel A. Bertolet, George Rahn, Philip A. Good,
Mordecai Lewis — [no election for the fifth member was ef-
fected.]

1828, John StaufFer, Thomas L Rohrer, Geo. Kline, Paul
Geiger, Philip A. Good.

1829, (Berks alone a district) Thomas J. Rohrer, John
StaufFer, John Wanner.

1830, Paul Geiger, John StaufFer, John Wanner, John Pot-
teiger.

1831, John Wanner, John Potteiger, William High, Henry
Boyer.

t

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 485

1832, John Potteiger, Peter Kline, jr. Benjamin Tyson, Ja-.
cob U. Snyder.

1833, the same re-elected, except Benjamin Tyson, in whose
stead Adam Schoener was elected.

1834, Lewis W. Richards, William Hottenstein, John Ul-
rich, John Jackson.

1835, John Ulrich, John Jackson, William Hottenstein, John
Sheetz.

1836, Samuel Fegely, John Sheetz, John Jackson, Michael
K. Boyer.

1837, Samuel Fegely, Jacob Walborn, Abraham Hill, James
Gei^er.

1838, Adam Schoener, Jacob Walborn, Abraham Hill, Sa-
muel Fegely.

1839, Adam Schoener, Henry Flannery, Peter Filbert, Dan-
iel B. Kutz.

1840, Daniel B. Kutz, Robert M. Barr, Samuel Moore,
Henry Flannery.

1841, Samuel Moore, John Shenk, John Potteiger, John
Bauchman.

1842, the same re-elected.

1843, John Potteiger, H. W. Smith, John C. Evans, Alfred
J. Harman.

LIST OF SENATORS FROM LEBANON COUNTY.

From I8l4, Dauphin and Lebanon have been a District.

I8l4, John Forster.

I8l8, John Sawyer.

1822, John Andrew Shulze. In 1823 Shulze was nominated
ibr Governor, when he resigned, and John Harrison elected in
his stead, who also declined, and Adam Ritscher was elected
for the unexpired terra.

1826, George Seltzer.

1830, Jacob Stoever,

1834, John Harper.

41*

486 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

1838, John Killinger. He resigned in l84l, when Levi Kline
was elected for the rest of the term.
1842, Levi Khne.

LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM LEBANON COUNTY.

Lebanon and Dauphin counties were one District in l8l3 and
l8l4; afterwards Lebanon was a District.

1813, Amos Ellmaker, Peter Shindel, and David Ferguson.

1814, Peter Bucher, Peter Shindel, and Jacob Goodhart.

1815, '16, Jacob Goodhart and John Sawyer.

1817, John Harrison and John Uhler.

1818, George Seltzer and Adam Ritscher.

1519, Adam Ritscher and John Uhler.

1520, Joseph Barnett and John Uhler.

1821, John Harrison and John Andrew Shulze.

1822, George Seltzer and Adam Ritscher.

1823, George Orth and Gotlieb Seltzer,

1824, '25, James Bell and Charles Gleim.

1826, James Bell and Philip Wolfensberger.

1827, Philip Wolfensberger — Charles Gleim and Peter Shin-
del, each had 453 votes; neither of them elected.

1828, Peter Shindel and Philip Wolfensberger.

1829, Isaac Meyers.

1830, WilHam Reily.

1831, '32, '33, David Mitchell.
1834, '35, John Krause.

1836, George Weidman.

1837, John Killinger.
1888, '39, Gotlieb Kintzel.
1840, '41, John Brunner.
1842, '43, Daniel Stine.

Delegates to the Provincial meeting of Deputies, chosen by
the several counties &c., held at Philadelphia, July 15, 1774.

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 4S7

From Berks — Edward Biddle, Daniel Broadhead, Jonathan

Potts, Thomas Dundas, Christopher Schultz.

Provincial Committee for Pennsylvania, held at Philadelphia,
January 23, 1755.

Members from Berks — Edward Biddle, Christopher Schultz,
Jonathan Potts, Mark Bird, John Patton, Baltzer Gehr and
Sebastian Levan.

Provincial Conference for Pennsylvania, held at Carpenter's
Hall, Philadelphia, June 25, 1776.

Delegates from Berks — Cols. Jacob Morgan, Henry Haller,
and Mark Bird; Doctor Bodo Otto, Mr. Benjamin Spyker,
Cols. Daniel Hunter, Valentine Eckert and Nicholas Lutz;
Captain Joseph Hiester and Mr. Charles Shoemaker.

Convention held at Philadelphia, July ^5, and continued by
adjournment till the 2sth of September, 1776.

From Berks — Jacob Morgan, Gabriel Hiester, John Lesher,
Benjamin Spyker, Daniel Hunter, Valentine Eckert, Charles
Shoemaker and Thomas Jones, jr.

Council of Censors convened at Philadelphia, November
10, 1783.

Members for Berks county. — James Read and Baltzer
Gehr.

Convention to frame the Constitution of Pennsylvania, of
1790 — commenced at Philadelphia, Nov. 24, 1-7S9, closed
Feb. 5, 1790.

Delegates from Berks — Joseph Hiester, Christian Lower,
Abraham Lincoln, Paul Groscop and Baltzer, Gehr.

45 S ffrSTOXY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES,

Members of the Convention to propose amendments to the
Constitution, which assembled at Harrisburg, May 2, 1S37.

From Berks county — John Hitter, George M. Keim, Wil-
liam High, and Mark Darrah.

From Lebanon county — Jacob B. Weidman and George
Seltzer,

APPENDIX.

3.

On page 223, the reader was referred to this place for a full
statement of the Paxton affair.

The want of space, however, precludes a detailed account.
The inhabitants of Lancaster and Berks counties being most
exposed to the merciless Indians — these, having on numberless
occasions, burnt dwellings, murdered with savage barbarity
their helpless inmates, &c. The Paxtoxians and others, having,
as they conceived, sufficient reason to believe that some of the
Indians at Conestogue, or of Indian town, w-ere exceedingly
treacherous, and were accessory to murders committed upon
the whites, had their feelings aroused — they resorted to Manor
township, Lancaster county, and on "Wednesday, the l4th of
December, 1763, at day-break a number of them, on horseback,
attacked the Indian village, and barbarously massacred some
women and children, and a few old men; amongst the latter, the
chief — Shaheas — who had always been distinguished for his
friendship toward the whites." The majority of the Indian vil-
lagers were abroad at the time of the attack. After slaying
Shaheas, whose Indian name was Shea-e-hays, George or Wa-
a-shen, Harry or Tee-kau-ly, Ess-ca-nesh a son of She-e-ha) s,
Sally or Te-a-won-sha-i-ong, an old woman, and Ka-ne-un-
qu-as, another woman — all who were at home, they set fire to
huts, and most of them were burnt down.

" The magistrates of Lancaster sent out to collect the sur-
viving ones, brought them into town, for their better security
against any further attempt, and it is said condoled with them
on the misfortune that had happened, took them by the hand,

490 EISTORY OF BERKS AtTD LEBANON COUNTIES.

and promised them protection. They were put into a recently
erected workhouse, a strong building, as the place of greatest,
safety."

Here they were not safe ; for on Tuesday, the 27th Decem-
ber, 1763, the Paxtonians and others assembled in great num-
bers in Lancaster, marched to the prison, forced the doors in,
and, says Gordon, butchered all the miserable wretches they
found within the walls. Unarmed and unprotected, the Indians
prostrated themselves, with their children, before their murder-
ers, protesting their innocence and their love to the English,
and in this posture they all received the hatchet.

Those slain in the prison were Captain John, whose Indian
name was Ky-un-que-a-go-ah, Betty or Ko-wee-na-see, his
ivife; Bill Soc or Ten-see-daa-qua, Molly or Ka-mi-an-guas.
his wife; John Smith or Sa-qui-es-hat-tah, Peggy or Chee-na-
wan, his wife; Qua-a-chon, Captain John's son; Jacob or Sha-
ee-kah, a little boy; Ex-un-das, young Sheehay's boy; Christ-
ley or Ton-qu-as, a boy ; Little Peter or Hy-ye-na-es, a boy ;
Molly or Xo-qua-e-un-quas, a little girl ; Ka-ren-do-u-ah, a
little girl ; Peggy or Ca-nu-ki-e-sung, a little girl.

017" " The names were taken from Peggy, wife of John Smith
and Betty, wife of Capt. John— by John Hays, Sheriff. See,
Provincial Records, Be ok S., p. 456.

ADDENDA

*rhe following we received from Dr. John Breitenbach, just
as this form was going to press.

" Notes obtained from Mr. Peter Spangler, on the road lead-
ing from this village (Myerstown) to Shaefferstown. Mr. S. is
eighty-three years old. He says, that about eighty years ago,
a Mr. Guschweg lived on the farm now owned by Mr. Jacob
Kapp. About seventy-five years ago, a Mr. Gring lived on
Mr. Bleistein's place. About one hundred years ago, a Mr.
Dreher owned the farm of my informant, Peter Spangler, grand-
son of Michael Spangler — about the same time Mr. Kissecker
owned what is now John Elby's. A Mr. Duey lived on what
is now William Haak's farm.

"Mr. Jacob Blecher, furnished me with the names of some
of the early settlers of " ifa.?e//cfcA," Hazel valley, so called
from the abundance of hazels grown there. All the places
spoken of above are in Jackson township.

"William Becher originally occupied Isaac Blecher's place;
Jost Hoffman owned Mr. Hibschman's; George Smith, George
Krum's; John Roth, Henry Haak's; Mr. Bollman, now Mil-
ler's at Muelbach district; Henry Strack, Jacob Wagner's. —
These were all Germans from Wittenstein, Germany.

"The foUowino; I obtained from Christian Walborn, ao^ed
84 or 8-5: He says, that one hundred years ago, the following
were original settlers, as much as is known in the eastern part
of Jackson township. Mr. Kitzmiller occupied what is now
Hochstedder's farm — had the only mill in this part of the coun-
try. Christian Walborn originally owned John Tice's farm,
below Myerstown; BatdorfF, old John Walborn's; Hoster, Mi-

492 HISTORV OF BERKS AND LEBANOST COUNTlfiSi

chael Reiser's; Lower or Lauer, the Rev. Daniel Ulrich's plan^
tation near the Berks county hne; Peter Diffenbach, what is
now known as Peter Diff'enbach's; Etchberger, now Jacob
Stewart's near Berks ; Weiser, known as Weiser's place. Some
sixty years ago a Mr. John Tice owned Mohler's place.

" Mr. Valentine Miller, residing in Myerstown, aged eighty
three, learned when a lad, from his father, that the vicinity of
Myerstown was first settled rising of one hundred years ago. —
The first settlers were Bassler, Herchelroth, Musser, Stamgast,
Ley, Immel, Bickel, Schell and others. The village itself was
originally settled by the following persons, residing in the cen-
tral part of the town — Christian Maurer, a mason, near the
hill; Schnell, a weaver, both Moravians; Mr. Gasser, now
Diehl's tavern; Hoffman, at old Kintzle'e house; Henry Brill,
tailor, built and dwelt where Brehm now resides; Hussecker,
a Swiss; Schuhmacher — this man had one of his children car-
ried off. The child w^as returned to him after two years ab-
sence. The house Mr. Schuhmacher erected by him is still
standing, having, however) been raised to two stories, and is
now occupied by a family of the name of Single; Nicholas Gast,
a mason, where Isaac Noecker now resides.

"The old German School house was also one of the first
buildings of the place. Here seven persons were massacred and
scalped — two women and five children; one woman made her
escape though scalped ; another was hotly pursued by an In-
dian, but escaped being killed — while the Indian was in the act
of tomahawking her, a man not far off fired his pistol, at which
the Indian was alarmed and ran off, leaving his victim.

"A fort had been erected of palisades, hard by the road
leading across the Blue mountain, at Umbenhacker's tavern,
where usually a small body of Militia were stationed for the
protection of the settlers. On one occasion all the men except
five, had been absent, and the Indians being privy of the fact,
made an attack upon the fort; and before the entrance to the
fort icould be secured, the savages entered, and murdered all
except one man — he fied, was pursued, having however con-
cealed himself, and as an Indian in search of him neared him,
he shot the Indian. He soon made off further, and met some
of the militia, on their way to the fort, to whom he rela-
ted what had transpired. To convince them that he had shot
an Indian, which they seemed first to doubt, they went to the

HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES. 493

|)lacej where they found the body of the Indian covered with
brushes* The Indian who it was supposed had concealed the
body of his fellow, was seen by one of the soldiers, at a short
distance, among some tall grass — he immediately shot him.
Now, believing all was well, (but sad to state,) he received a
deadly shot from a concealed savage.

" Immediately below Myerstown, the first settlers v/ere Her-
chelroth, (as stated above) Kuster, Noecker, Nicholas Miller,
andPhiIipJBreitenbach,my great grand father. He'and Miller were
direct from Germany — many of the other settlers were from
Schoharie, in New York, though originally from Germany.

" There was, on ray great-grandfatlier's farm, a block-house
or fort, where, in time of danger, many took shelter.

" To conclude, I Avould add the names of some Revolution-
ary soldiers, &c. These were Martin VValborn, Leonard Eat-
dorfF, Tice, Koppenhaver, Schwengel, George Spangler, Capt.
Leonard Immel, Captain Stoeyer of Swatara, Jacob Spangler,
iSergeant Gloninger of Lebanon, Peter Lein, John Kreitzer,
Peter Hoster."

MINERAL SPRINGS.

Rosenthal, or Rose-valley, (more commonly known as Kess-
ler's spring, or run,) is a romantic and beautiful dell formed by
the depression of neighboring mountains, which elevate their
wood-crowned sides and summits to the height of several hun-
dred feet above the level of the valley, excluding the oppressive
rays of the summer's sun for many hours of the day, and ren-
dering the place a delightful residence during the hot months.
A limpid stream of the purest water meanders through the val-
ley, adding greatly to its rural beauty, and affording agreeable
promenades along its banks. The valley is well set with lofty
trees, the remnants of the natural forest, affording a contiguity
of shade and preserving an agreeable temperature during the
hottest weather. The mineral spring affords chalybeate water,
which is considered highly beneficial in several complaints, and
is promotive of general health. The improvements have been
greatly extended, by additions made recently, and are sufucient
42

494 HISTORY OF BERKS AND LEBANON COUNTIES.

to furnish accommodations to a large number of boarders.
Plunging and Shower Baths are erected near the house, and
the vicinity of the neighboring town will enable the proprietor
to provide, at all times, whatever may be necessary to promote
the health and comfort and gratify the tastes of his inmates.
Reading, so well known for the beauty and salubrity of its sit-
uation, and the excellence of its society, is but three hours ride
from Philadelphia, over the best railroad in the Union, travers-
ing a country unsurpassed for its fertility and beauty.

" The waters," says Dr. Isaac Hiester, " I have found on
examination with chemical re-agents, to contain iron, held in
solution by carbonic acid gas, or fixed air, together with a small
quantity of muriate of soda."

READING MUSEUM.

Since writing that portion which relates to Reading, Mr. C-
S. Getz, proprietor of the Lancaster Museum, has also estab-
lished one in the former place, which is highly spoken of; and,
indeed, adds much to the place, A debt of gratitude, which
should be well paid in money and kind offices, is due Mr. Getz,
for his indefatigable efforts, both to instruct and amuse.

INDEX.

A.

Alliwegi Indians, on the east of the Mississippi, 17

Adam Reed — a company meets at his house, &c. 45

Albany, eleven killed in, and eight burnt, 58

Andrew John, his wife and child carried off, 72

Appeal of the distressed to their fellow citizens, 75

Albany township described, 122
" " Indians commit cruel murders in it, 123-4

" " Present boundary of, and statistics, 124

Amity township, in Berks county, 125

Adler office — the editor castigated, 165

Armstrong John murdered at Juniata, 207^

Arnold Woodward murdered, 207

Albert Frantz murdered by the Indians, 317

Ains worth Samuel, his son taken captive, 326

Annville township, 353

African churches in Reading, 469

Analysis of mineral water, by Dr. Hiester, 469

b:

JJerryhill William murdered by the Indians, 47

Biddle Edward writes to his father, 50

Bowers' house — a man found dead, 51

Bethel township — murder committed there, 61

Burns Adam John, his wife and three children killed, 67

496 INDEX.

PACE.

Busse Captain goes to Shamokin, 68

Babel Fort — murders committed near it, 69
Boeshore Mathias fired at by an Indian, 64, 65, 3^1

Beatty of Paxton township killed, 73

Barnet William and Joseph wounded, 74

Bell Thomas, his son, was killed and scalped, 74
Burst Michael, notice of, 93, 303, 304

Berks county, erection of in 1752, 117

Bern township, in Berks county, 127

Bethel township, Berks county, 131
" murder committed in it, 131, 132

" Moravian settlement in before 1755, 132

Brecknock township, Berks county, 134

Boyerstown, 137

Bowman Matthias leader of the New-born, 233

Bechtelsville, 255

Berg Maria, epitaph by Daniel Bertolet, 260

Bethel township, Lebanon county, 314

Brand Mueller Johannes Rev. 315

Barbara and Regina carried off by the Indians, 819

Bowman Henry and Jacob tied by Indians, 334

Bunker Hill, 350

Breitenbach Philip 363
Berks county oihcers and privates, attend at Lancaster, 893

Brethren, religious history of, 424

Bethlehem settled, 428'

Bucher Conrad John Rev. 457

Baptists, 468

Bar, number of members in Berks county, 477

Breitenbach's John Dr. communication, 490

C.

Candal Rudolph found scalped, 53, 131

Conrad Peter, his mill set on fire by the Indians, 59

Culmer Philip, his wife, and others killed, 67

Claus Adam, his children scalped, 72

Colebrookdale, Indian skirmish at, 96

Charitable schools established, scheme of, 99
Commissioners appointed to fix boundaries of Berks co. 120

Caernarvon township in Berks county, 135

iNPEs;. 491?

FA8K*

Cumru township, 138

« " Indians killed in by the Winters, 138

Canassatego, anecdote of, 208

Commission to Colonel Weiser, 218

Coxtown, 240

Centre township, 255

Cold Spring in Lebanon county, 327

Committee General at Reading, 389

Clymer Daniel Col., his autograph, &c. 390

Common Schools, importance of, 415

Conference in Oley, . 425

Catholics Roman, 461

Church of God, 468

Charitable and Literary Societies of Reading, 471

Courts of Berks and Lebanon counties, 476

D.

Delaware river, scenes on its banks described, 14

Delaware Indians divided into different tribes, 17

Derrick Sixths watch house at, 51

Dieppel Lawrence, his children cruelly murdered, 62

Dickey Elizabeth and her child taken prisoner, 74

Ditzelar Michael his wife killed and scalped, 76
De Tircks or De Turcks, Huguenots, settle in Oley, 87, 88

Douglassville, 127

District township, 141

Douglass township, 143

De Turk Maria, her letter, 244

Dragon's Cave, 240

Danner, father of Christian killed, 333

" Christian taken captive, 323
Dady Doctor and his accomplices, 355, 359

Dunkards, religious history of 424

E.

Elder Revd. w^rites to a minister, near Adam Reed's, 42, 3-35

Eschton Philip, one of his children scalped, 72

Eidgenoss or Eedgenotten and Eidgenossenschaft, 85

Early settlement at Tulpehocken, 97
Earl of Shaftesbury takes an interest in the Germans, &c. 101

42*

498 INDEX.

Elsace township, 144

Exeter township, Berks county, 184

Earl township, 259

Elizabeth run, 322

Ewing James, elected 2d Brigadier General, 394

Education in Berks and Lebanon, 407

Episcopalians, 463

F.

First settlers of Pennsylvania from England, Wales, Hol-
land, Germany, l4
Figurative language of the Indians, 20
Manning's son and one Hicks murdered by the Indians 47
Finsher John, his house and barn burnt, 67
Fell Martin and others killed, 67
Fischbach Joseph, a soldier wounded, 72
Frantz John, his wife killed and three children carried

off 76, 132 •

Fincher and his family murdered by the Indians, 78

French Protestants or Huguenots, 82

Fader waer som aest i Himmelen, &c. 82

Frankhn's story of Cannesatego, 208

Fredericksburg or Stumpstown, 822
Fort Smith, 63, 364

Franklin Library of Reading, 474

G.

Gliwell, Auchmudy, McCahon, &c., petition governor

Morris, 34

George Gabriel's house burnt by the Indians, 38

Great Cove, persons murdered at 47

Gallaway Elizabeth murdered, 47

Gilson Henry murdered, 47

Geiger Nicholas, his wife and two children killed, 76

Germans who emigrated to Pennsylvania, &c., 90
Germans used as make weights in the political balance, 94

Grosskill creek, in Bethel township, Berks county, 134

Graydon Alexander, extract from his memoirs, 153

Greenwich township, Berks county, 196

INDEX. 499

Grimsville, 187

Galbraith James of Cumberland, 215

Garnents' church, 227

Gloninger George, 810
Geology, 274, 275

German Seventh Day Baptists, 426

Garrick Association of Reading, 472

H.

Hannah, last of the Lenape in Pennsylvania, 32

Hostilities between Great Britain and France, 83
Harris's (John) letters to the Governor, 35, 37

Hartman Henry murdered by the Indians, 48

Hunter or Yeager Martin and his wife killed, 72

Hart William taken captive, 76

Hubler Frantz his wife and three children carried off, 70

Huguenots or French Protestants, account of 83
Hiester Joseph Gov. notice of 175, 295

Hiester, Daniel and John 205

Hiester Isaac M. D., Pres. of Med. Fac. Berks co. 290

Hartley Thomas Col. 182

Heidelberg township in Berks county, 188

" " first settlers from New York, 189

" " first settlers Starker Eigenisnn, i.191
" " Washington Gen. at Reading furnace,. 193

Hereford township, Berks county, 222

" " Schwenkfelders settled in, 222

Hunters' Furnace 240

Hamburg, 252

Heidelberg meeting, 275

Haendsche Jacob murdered, 317

Hanover township, 323

Hollenbach Matthias, memoir of 328

Heidelberg township, Lebanon county, 336

Harper Adam, 352

Heydrich Peter, 365

Hunters' Col. battalion refuse to march, 405

I.

Immigration, cause of to America and Pennsylvania, 14

500 INDEX.

Indians that inhabited the eastern part of Pennsylvania, 16

" accounts of their origin,, 16

" described by Wm. Penn — their persons, &c. 18

Implements — domestic ones — used by the natives, 30

Irish — an account of first settlers, 114

" settled within the limits of Berks county, 115

Indians are witty in natural things, 211

Incident — a thrilling one related, 247, 248

Internal improvements, 378

Johnston Jane murdered by the Indians, 325

Jackson Wilham abducted, and returned,, 344

Jews' graveyard at ShaefFerstown, 345

Jonestown or Williamsburg, 348

Jackson township, 361

Justices of the Peace of Berks, 478

K.

King Jacob, murdered by the Indians, 34

Kurtz, the Revd., sent for by Conrad Weiser, 44

Kluck Peter his house burnt by the Indians, 59

Lraushar and his wife were murdered, 60

Kreag, or Creigh John killed by the Indians, 67

Kurtz Rev. writes to Muhlenberg, 71

Kessler's Spring, _ 145

Keim Daniel B., his sketch of Reading, 147

Keim, Whitaker & Co.'s iron works, l6S

Kline'sville in Berks county, 187

Kutztown, 229

Kreutzug Apostolischer, 425

L.

Leinberger John killed, 53

Long Nicholas his house set on fire, 67

Long Leonard, his son, was killed and scalped, 72

Lebenguth and his wife killed and scalped, 76

Logan James, touching the Irish, 1 H

Liberty poles at Reading, &c. l64

Long-sv/amp township, 225

INDEX, 501

Leesport, 227

Lee Thomas E. 241

Little Northkill creek, 25^

Lower Heidelberg township, Berks county, 256.

Lebanon county erected, 301

*' township, 302

Light Joseph, 303.
Lebanon town, 309, 311

Londonderry township, 332

Luther's views of schools, 4l3

Lutherans, religious history of, . 430

M.

M'Clelland David murdered by the Indians, 47

Morgan Jacob, his deposition, 52

Mies George pursues the Indians, 67

Motz Eernhart killed, 07

Miller Leonard his son made prisoner, 72

Mauerer George cutting oats, was killed, 73

Mackey James murdered in Hanover, 73

Mosser Hans and Adam, killed in Bethel township, 77

Miller, four or five of his children murdered, 78

Martloff Philip, his wife and children killed, 79

Miesse Gabriel, son of Jacob, 130

Millersburg, Berks county, l34

Morgantown in Berks county, 136
Miller Peter John Rev. witli Conrad Weiser, 201, 432

Maiden creek township, 226

Manajunk or Schuylkill, 226

Maxatawny township, 22S

Marion township, 257

Medical Faculty of Berks county, 290
Mies George John murdered by the Indians, 317, 32 L

Mennonites, religious history of, 423

Moravians, religious history of, 428
Muhlenberg Henry I\Ielchior Rev. 432, 438

Methodist Episcopal Church, 465

Museum at Reading, 494

N.

Natives of America described by William Penn, " 18

50^ INDEX.

Neytong Balser, his wife murdered by the Indians, 59.

Noah Frederick killed by the Indians, 63
Neulaender, class of Germans well known by that name, 93
Newmanstown, partly in Berks and Lebanon counties, 195

New Born, 233, 417

Nicole, French and Indian trader. 245

O.

Opekasset, an Indian chief at Molatton, 125

Onteelaunee, or Maiden Creek, 225

Oley township, 230

« Moravian Synod held in, 237

Otterbein William Rev., 445

P.

Pennsylvania an uncultivated territory, l3:

Penn William obtains a charter for Pennsylvania, 14.
Penn's creek, or Mahahany, west side of the Susquehanna, 35

Peer Robert murdered by the Indians, 47
Parson William writes to Rev. Kurtz and W. Reed, 48, 49

Probst Valentine writes to Jacob Levan, 56

Phoenix Ship, Jonas Rupp, and others sail in, 93

Palatine families at Mahanatawny, 96, l25

Pine creek in Albany township, 124

.Plum creek in Bern township, 129, 255

Prisoners of w^ar at Reading, l46

Post Frederick calls to see Conrad Weiser 474.

Pyrlaeus studies Mohawk with Weiser, 205

Peters. Richard a letter to, from Weiser, 213

Penn tov;nship, 256

Pike township, 259
Proceedinp-s of a meeting in the autograph of Clymer, 390

Pauli Reinhold Philip Rev. 460

Presbyterians, 464

Press history of, 470

Poor maintenance of 475,

Q.

Quakers, German ones from Cresheim, l4

Quitopahilla, or Snake harbor, 304

Quakers religions history of 422

Index. 503

PAGK.

R.

Robinson Thomas, his son was killed, 74

Robinson Samuel shot, he died, 76

Rupp Jonas, a redemptioner, 93

Reading, on the Schuylkill in 1752, 117,147,156

Regina and Barbara abducted by the Indians, 3l9

Rank Willian, his communication, 348
Represantatives from Berks and Lebanon county, 482-486

Rosenthal, ' 493

s.

Spring Casper, murdered and scalped, 53

Seitel Barnabas, his barn burnt by the Indians, 59

Shoep John, a young lad abducted, 61

Schrenck Christian, his wife escapes, 71

Sechler Adam, his wife scalped, 72

Smelley widow, killed and scalped. 73

Semelke Peter, his house and barn burnt, 74

Shetterly, two brothers killed, 76

Snavely Jacob, his son murdered, 76
Schlatter Michael Rev. superintendant of schools, 103, 442

Schneider Jacob, Editor of the Adler, maltreated, 165

Schwenkfelders settle in Berks county, 222, 427

Spitler John murdered, 310

Steger a young man taken captive 334

Schultz Christian, Red. Sen. 427

Senators from Berks county, 488

" " Lebanon county, 415

T.

Terrance's (Adam) letter touching Shamokin, 39
Trump Adam in Allemengel killed,

Tulpehocken early settlement at 97
Thomson Rev. solicits funds to educate the Germans in

Pennsylvania, lOO

.Tulpehocken township, 245

Turnpikes, 383

.Tories brought to Reading, 404

Taeufer, religious history ofj 424

^4 iNDtX.

PIO^S

u.

Ulrich Daniel Rev. resides where Kurtz resided, 44

Umberger Leonard, 93 • — j —

Union township, Berks co. 251

Union ville, 2ol

Upper Tulpehocken township, 26'S

Upper Bern township, 254

Union township, Lebanon county, 864

Union Canal, 378

United Brethren in Christ, 466

Universalists. 467

V.

Virginsville, 240

Versamnlung Grosse, origin of 1.426

W.

Weiser Conrad writes to the Governor, 47,-205,-210

Wolf Jacob, his child scalped, 59

Wuensch Felix, shot by the Indians, 61

Weidle Jacob Esq., his letter to the waiter, 64

Winckelblech John his two sons killed, 72

Williams Isaac his wife and widow Williams killed, 73

Wampler Peter his children carried off, 74

Winters John and Walter murder some Indians 111
Welsh settlers numerous and respectable in Berks county ,llO

Wommelsdorf tov.'n, 194
Weiser Conrad, biographical sketch of 195,-222

Weiser Frederick murdered by the Indians, 3l7

Williamsburg or Jonestown, 348

Y.

Yeth William mortally wounded by the Indians, 6l
Yeager Martin and his wife killed.

Young Samuel his wdfe and child taken prisoners, 74

Yoder Jacob, born in Reading 1758, 18^

Z.

Zeisloff and his wife w^ere murdered, 60

Zeuchmacher, an old man, killed, 67
Zinzendorf Count calls on Conrad Weiser, 204, 428, 429

THE END.

SUBSCRIBEES^ NAMES.

Reading.
Hon. John Ritter & Co.,
James May Jones,
Jno. S. Richards, Esq.,
Boyer & Getz,
Hon. Henry A. Muhlenberg,
Matthias S. Richards, Esq.,
Morris M. Ancona, M. D.,
Rev. James L. Schock,
Jno. P. Hiester, M. D.,
Joel Ritter,
Isaac Hiester, M. D.,
Chas. Troxell, P. M.,
Saml. S. Young,
John L. Rightneyer,
Rev. J. O. Bucher,
Rev. Wm. Pauli,
Peter Nagle,
Rev. Pennell Coombe,
Rev. R. U. Morgan,
John S. Hiester, Esq.,
Hon. Jno. Banks,
Elijah Deckert, Esq.,
Charles Davis, Esq.,
Hiester H. Muhlenberg, M. D.,
S. Myers & Son,
Arnold Puwelle,
Wm. Gries, M. D.,
Jacob M. Long,
F. H. Behue, M. D.,

C. H. Hunter, M. D.

D. R. & W. H. Clymer,
A, H, Raiguel,

Samuel Bell,
D. M'Knight,
Wm. M. Seyfert,
Packer & Coleman,
Rev. William Sterling,
Rev. Samuel Davison,
Jno. Allgaier,
W. Darling, Esq.
J. Heitzmann,
J. L. Stichter,
Geo. G. Barckly, Esq.
Joseph Henry,
Geo. Boyer,
John Miller,
Zacharias H. Maurer,
John Green,
Rev. J'b Miller,
D. K. Shultz,
Boas Ketterer,
S. Warner,
Isaac Myers,
Chas. M. Pearson,
Jacob D. Barnet,
Henry Binckley,
Wm. Wunder,
Saml. S. Jackson,
Ger. G. BisghofF,
William Betz, Esq.
Wm. B. Schoener,
Henry Brown,
And. M. Sallade, Esq.
M. B. Eckert, Esq.
J. Pringle Jones, Esq.

506

SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.

R. M. Bair, Esq.

John S. Schwear,

A. F. MiJler, Esq.

John Goldsmith,

Fred. Louwen,

J. L. Dunn, Esq.

Gen. Geo. D. B. Keim,

Geo. W. Arms, Esq.

Benevi]le Keim,

Keim, Whitaker & Co.

Wm. Streeten,

James Fitzimmon,

John F. Mol],

Lewis Seider,

D. H. Dotterer,

Saml. Boone,

Adam Jones,

William Graeff, Jr.

-David D. Maurer,

George Hantsch,

Daniel Boas,

Sol'n A. Stout,

Thomas S. Leaser,

Andrew Davis,

J. T. Jackson,

Levi S. Knerr,

Willm. R. Nicholls,

Thomas Barnett,

William Martin,

John E. Yager,

John E. Schaefer,

George Thorn,

Solomon G. Birch, M. D.

John Taxis,

Fredk. Lauer,

F. B. Shalter,

John Rapint,

John Miller,

S. Williams & H. Roch,

William Bingaman and Henry

Bindenger,
L. Mannerbach,

Philip Zieber,
A. Righteye,
G. D. Levan,
Sol. Brubaker,
Wm. Lotz,
Michael Riefsnyder,
J. & E. Eynicle,
Henry Van Reed, Esq.
Wm. Gensemer,
Charles Phillippi,
H. Rhoads, Esq. ■
Rev. F. A. M. Keller,
Rev. A. L. Herman,
A. F. Boas,
Gen. Geo. M. Keim,
Isaac Eckert,
Adam Johnston,
Robert Mills, Jr.
J. L. Dunn, Esq.
Albert G. Bradford,
Henry High,
John P. Miller,
Jas. V. Lambert,
George Garnant,
John S. Reifsnyder,
William A. Wells, Esq.
T. W. Hoffmand,'
Herman Beard,
Richard I. Groff,
William Call,
Wm. Wanner,
John Kelly,
G. E. Ludwig,
Rev. William Sterling,
Rev. Samuel Davison,
Henry High,
John P. Miller,
James V. Lambert,
Sam. E. Griscom,
N. Soder.

CuMRu Township.
Adam W. Kauffman,

SUBSCRIBERS NAMES*

507

Elijah Ruth,
Bennerville Yoost,
Benjamin H. Wagner,
Solomon Reifsnyder,
Isaac M'Cardy,
Daniel Francis,
Wm. Lewis,
Jacob Dick, Esq.
D. B. Lorah,
Martin Fritz,
Hugh O'Neill,
David Rothraan,
Geo. Freeman,
John Schwartz,
John Weidner,
Thos. J. Thomas,
Wm. Rohrbach,
Abel Thomas,
Jacob Shilling,
John Shoup, Jr.
Geo. Spohn,
Henry Mull,
A. H. Witman, M. D.
John Bush,
Hiram Miller,
Isaac Rollman,
M. Miller,
Benneville Miller,
Wm. Spohn,
Abr. Ruth, M. D.
Richard S. Ludwig,
Reuben Spohn,
Wm. Ruth,
George Ruth,
Elisha Beard,
Thos. Van Reed,
Daniel Ruth,
John B. Van Reed,
Rufus Addams,
David Marshall,
Peter Miller,
Jacob Winter,
Michael G. Moyer.

Alsace Township.

F. A. N. Hiester,

Jonathan Derninger,

Thos. J, Webeer,

Daniel Baum,

Adam Philhps,

Jacob Madiera,

Daniel Spangler,

Simon Hoyer,

Jacob Klohs,

Lewis Miller,

A. Leize,

Jacob Gehert,

Wm. Hinnershitz,

Jacob Deisher,

John W. Burkhart,

Nicholas Mason,

Henry P. Birkinbine,

John Jackson,

Ezra High,

John Missimer.

Robeson Township.

Henry A. Seyfert,
Samuel Kachel,
Wm. Wetley,
Nelson Dickinson,
Gains Dickinson,
Lewis M. Fawkes,
Da:iil Serbe,
John Moore, ,
Geo*. Moore,
Samuel Wolf,
Martin Glass,
Peter Schweitzer,
John Wetley,
John StafFerd,
Philip Witman,
Daniel Fry,
John Fry, '

Levi B. Smith,
John E. Rigg,
Mathew Sample,
Evan Evans, Esq.

508

SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.

Geo. Sponagle,
Paul Geiger, Esq.
James Geiger,
John M'Nabb,
John Geiger,
Isaac Geiger,
Michael Walters,
Martley Potts,
Elisha Wells,
Cadwallader Morris,
Mahlon R, Parker,
John Kale,
J. S. Myers,
Isaac Templin,
Samuel Palsgrove,
Wm. Everhart,
Samuel Zink,
Peter Moore,
Jacob Fox,
Josiah Lewis,
Henry Iloman,
Thos. Jacobs,
John Old,
John Miller,
G. S. Pierce,
Edw'd Brooke,
David J. Lincoln,
Abraham D. Hill,
Franklin M. Reazor,
John Saboldt,
S. E. Hirst,
Jacob H. Hill,
Joseph Mohr,
Daniel Hoffman,
Joseph F. Sarge,
Samuel B. Wetley,
W. Bell,
David Richard,
Wra. Welley,
Geo. Garman,
Peter Garman.

C.T.iiNARvoN Township
avid Morgan,

Daniel J. Bruner, M. D.
David Finger, Esq.
John Vv''eidensau],
Geo. Wert,
Wilson Hamilton
J. Pawhng,
Wm. Pawling,
Milton Rutherford,
John Deihm,
John Morgan,
Davis Smith,
Menry Mengel,
Jacob Mast, sen.
Jacob Mast,
John D. Jones,
Wm. Vahgey,
H. B. Jacobs,
Daniel Fooman,
Abraham Heatrunft,
Geo. W. Johnson,
Evan Sheeler.

Brecknock Township
Chr. Burckhart,
Christian Bowman
Peter Bowman,
Jacob Fritz,
Christian Huber,
John Becker, Esq.

Umivu Tow^nship.
John Harrison,
Clement Brooke,
Isaac Wolf,
Jacob Giger,|
George Wamsher,
Philip Fosnoch,
Jacob Hoffman,
Samuel Staraets,
Jacob Giger, jr.
Benjamin Grubb,
John M'Gowen, jr.
H. S. Rupp,
Wm. D. Munter,

SUBSCRIBERS KAMES.

509

George D. Putz.

Douglass Township.
Jeremiah Van Reed,
Daniel Mauger.

Amity Township.
H. M'Kenty,
William Jones, M. D.
David B. Mauger,
Washington Russell,
Doughten & Custer,
George Custer,
Peter Marquart, jr.
John Wagoner,
Henry Haus,
Abraham Babp,
William Yocom,
George Womsher,
Jacob Yocom,
Samuel Boone,
Jacob Kline,
Lot Rimby,
John Goodman,
Mahlon Airaan,
Amos Firing,
Hiram C. Eaum,
Solomon Feather,
George Kline, jr.
Jacob S. Lachman,
Solomon Rhoads,
Ephraim Mauger,
George K. Lorah,
Jacob Strunck,
E. Lee,

Jeremiah Rhoads,
Lewis Beachtel,
Joseph Grisemer,
John Frances,
David K. Bortz,
Moses Stinbernger,
Samuel Rhoads.

COLEBROOKDALE ToWNSHIP.

John Staffer, Esq.

Rev. A. S. Basler,
Joel Bryan, M. D.
Jonathan B. Rhoads,
Henry B. Boyer,
Henry H. Gaubel,
Frederick Schawnhart,
David K. East,
Lewis Worman,
Jacob K. Boyer,
Frederick Witman, '■
Daniel Cressman,
Daniel Grau,
Daniel S. Sands,
David Fox,
Israel R. Lauchs, Esq.
Daniel Heller,
Benneville B. Rhoads,
Wm. Johnson,
Peter Kuser,
Wm. G. Fritz,
Wm. Ritter,
Solomon Rhoads,
Samuel Yost,
John S. Rhoads,

Exeter Township.
Jacob Hawk,
Jacob B. Brumbach,
A. Guldin,
Daniel Housum,
Avon Egolf,
Michael Koch,
G. Moyer,
Daniel Bishop,
John Esterly,
Henry Gilbert,
David Winters,
Jacob Esterly,
George Hartman,
Samuel Hechler, ;
Daniel Kehr,
Martin Goodhart,
Bartholomew Barto,
David B. Kline,

5l0

SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.

James Lee,

Isaac Crisman,
Maiden-creek Township.

John Keira,

John E. Addams, Esq.

James Darrah, M. D.

Samuel W. Althouse,

John Kehr,

John H. Gernant,

Adam Gernant,

T. S. Shoemaker,

John Smith,

Thos. Reber,
David E. Bosler,
Isaac Ely,
Thos. Evans,
Abraham K. Lesher,
Charles A. Yoch,
Peter Sell,
Charles Coleman,
John Housnet,
Solomon Kerby,
Jacob Hoffman,
G. W. Wily,
D. NefF,
Ely G. Fox,
Samuel KerchhofF,
Joseph E. Peter,
Stinly Kerby,
Abraham Graeff,
John Dunkle,
Isaac Huy, jr.
Jacob Leightfoot,
Abraham Hughes,
Mordecai Lee,
Mary B. Lee,
William Willits,
Thos. Penrose,
Rees L. Davies,
Henry Moll,
Jacob Parvin,
Wm. Rahn,
David Huy,

Benneville Kline,
Henry A. Hottenstainj
Jacob Ulrich,
Jacob T. O'Brien,
Abraham Forney,
Jacob GraefF,
Augustus B. Hottenstain,
Jacob Dunkel,
Solomon Hovning.

Lower heidelberg township.

Francis Sell,

Harrison Ruth,

Thos. B. Reber,

Samuel Hain,

William Fisher,

Adam L. Hain,

John Hoover,

Daniel B. Wenrich,

B. H. Guevlin,

John Saylor,

Adam Hain,

John B. Siegfried,

John A. Hain,

William Beidler,

Isaac Hain,

Henry Miller,

Hon. Wm. Addams,

Amos Miller,

Henry Z. Van Reed.

Upper heidelberg township.

Samuel Fisher,

John Sohl, jr.

Jacob H. Boyer,

Daniel Ramsey,

Samuel Reed,

Andrew Taylor, jr.

John L. Fisher,

John Shitz,

G. B. Keiser,

Wm. M'Donell,

A G Morss, M D

E G Shuize,

SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.

ill

John A C Stephen,
E P Smith,
John E Schwalem,
Wm Moore, M D
John Gregory,
Ezra Reed,
Col Jesse Renehold,
M Seltzer.

MARION TOWNSHIP.

Benjamin Hoffman,
John Lindsley,
J Kellar Burns,
Jno C Reed,
Rev Daniel Ulrich,
Samuel Shitz,
Peter Etschberger,
Jacob Tice, Esq
Edward Ellig, M D
Samuel Lindemuth,
Eli Klopp,
Jacob Jones,
Josiah Groh,
Sam'l L Stewart,
Edward H Becker,
Martin Brown,
Joseph Hollenbush.
Franklin Etchberger.

TULPEHOCKEN TOWNSHIP.

Philip Kline,
Francis A Harner,
Cyrus Geasey,
Valentine Brobst,
Henry W S Nipe,
Jacob Trion, M D
Peter Aulenbauch,
Henry Dewald,
Benjamin Klahr,
George Schaeffer,
Jacob Frantz,
Isaac Kurr,
Peter Lebo,
John Levengood,

Willougby H. Weiler,
John S Leisse,
Joseph Klahr,
Isaac Harner,
Samuel Miller,
Joseph Seyfert,
Samuel Heilig,

BETHEL TOWNSHIP.

Wm K Brobst,
Frederick Harner,
Charles J Commens, Esq
D L Batdorff,
Michael Slrmeltzer,
Daniel Walborn.

UPPER BERN TOWNSHIP.

Joseph Nunemaeher,
Wm. Sherrer,
Simon Riegel,
Wm Sauers,
Alber Sausser,
Geo. Reinzel,
Solomon Albright,
Daniel Seifert,
Franklin V Wagner.

WINDSOR TOWNSHIP.

Charles H Mohr,
Oliver Dyer,
Samuel L Becker,
William Reber,
Reuben Weidman,
Wm Mengel,
Joseph Seidle,
Jacob D Kline,
Wm Bo wen,
Henry Billig,
Charles Keller,
Samuel Cox,
Charles Lawrie,
Anthony Richard,
John Stiner,
J Seiberling, M D

■'n:

SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.

•'ohn Beirarraen,
Charles Stoud,
George Shollenberger,
Daniel Kern,
Peter Miller,
Wm E Shollenberger,
John Bailey,
Daniel Wolf,
J H Lewars,
Plenry Lewars, Esq
Charles L Jaeger,
M A Sellers,
Thomas Smith,
Reuben Lintz,
Josiah Hearing,
John Sunday,
John S Boyer,
James G. Moyer,
Moses S Schock,
John Kirkpatrick,
Thomas Sieger,
Augustin Schulze, M D
Baum.

PENN TOWNSHIP.

Geo Beyerle
John Runkle
Wm Montgomery
Elias Staudt
Daniel Deppen M D
John Yeager
Henry Witman
John Reed

A A M'Donough M D
Edwin H Brockway
Levi S Stumm
Daniel Billraan Esq
Gabriel O. Hiester
Joseph Greath.

RICHMOND TOWNSHIP.

John G. Kaufman
Nicholas W Hunter
Fred'k K Bechtel
Jacob Adam.

LOWER BERN TOWNSHIP.

Peter L Kershner
Daniel B Reber
Benneville B Reber
Joseph Reber
Samuel Albricrht
John R King
John Adam
John Epler
Peres Hain Esq
Jared Epler.

OLEY TOWNSHIP.

Daniel Bartolet sen
Daniel G Bartolet
Wm A Himelreich
Jacob de Kneuse
Gideon Hoch
Daniel Laucks
Jeremiah Y Bechtel
Isaac Bartolet
John A Bartolet
Abraham de Tirk
Frederick Glase
Samuel Spohn
Wellington B Griesemer
Isaac Van Sickle
Henry Tyson
John Maurer
Elmira H Sands
E B Gerben
Benneville Griesemer
John Y Antrim

IbJL 'il

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